


Beautiful Dreamer

by WaxRhapsodic



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: Apocolypse
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Charles is a Professor, Endgame Cherik, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is a Father, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, M/M, Sibling Bonding, Slow Build, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-07-12 02:10:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7080376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaxRhapsodic/pseuds/WaxRhapsodic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Erik came back of his own free will following the scene in the woods? What if he had reason to?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a not for profit fanwork I make no claims of ownership of any of the properties or characters listed herein, they belong to their respective owners.

Erik turned to face his family as the police chief began to tie his wrists with rough hewn rope. Everything was happening in slow motion. It was like slogging through cold molasses, his limbs didn’t want to obey his commands.

Surrounded by his friends and family, he was alone. The ghost of Magneto, his greatest regret continued to hound him and destroy everything he touched.

He fleetingly wished they’d killed him all those years ago instead of locking him away for a decade. Then again, perhaps he’d died long ago on a sun drenched beach in Cuba.

He pursed his lips and forced himself to look at his family, chest aching to see the pain and confusion in their eyes, the regret and fear suffusing Magda’s beloved face.

He should have left her alone, kept moving. She’d have been married now, to a normal man. Maybe he would be a mutant, but he certainly wouldn’t be a wanted criminal.

He was like a modern day Lady Macbeth, the blood would never wash out of his hands or his soul.

“I won’t let them take you!” Nina twisted in her mother’s arms to face him, eyes glimmering as she called a murder of ravens from their nests to darken the sky.

“What’s going on?” “Is she one of them?!”  “She’s a mutant too!” the junior officers cried in alarm.

“Make her stop!” the arresting officer shook him roughly by the arms.

“She’s frightened she can’t control it,” he said as calmly as possible, knowing how armed men could easily become irrational if startled.

“Nina, darling please go with your mama, I’m fine,” he tried to soothe her as Magda did the same.

“Papa! I won’t let them take you!” She struggled harder and the birds began to swarm above their heads like a storm.

“Nina,” he began just as the birds swooped in and she twisted from her mother’s panicked grasp to run towards him through the descending cloud of ravens.

An arrow flew, loosed from its notch without warning it struck home, slicing through Nina and sending her reeling to the ground as it continued its flight to embed in Magda’s chest with a dull thud.

The birds dispersed as Erik pulled away and ran to kneel at their sides. Nina’s hair fell in a dark spill over her pale face, eyes closed as a pool of red iron rich blood soaked into the black earth that cushioned their fall.

Magda lay sprawled like a broken doll, blue eyes half closed, rimmed in red from the tears she’d shed over losing him. The spark of life gone before he ever reached her side.

Trembling he reached out to brush his fingers against her thick, dark hair, the panicked chatter of the officer’s a distant white noise to the blood rushing in his ears.

“No, no not my babies. My babies!” he wept, unashamed, broken more deeply than he’d ever felt before. He felt the metal of his daughter’s necklace calling to his senses.

He pulled it with his power and sent it flying, killing the men where they stood, all of them collapsing within a heartbeat of each other until the blood warmed metal flew back to his grasp.

“Is this what you want from me?!” he shouted to the sky, shaking as he held Magda’s broken body in his arms.

“Is this all that I am?” he sobbed, voice cracking under the strain of his tears as he wept for what felt like hours.

Until.

“Papa,” came a breath so soft he’d have missed it had he not been kneeling by her head.

For an instant he was afraid to look, to see that he’d gone mad. But hope quickly won out and he hastily brushed aside the silky strands of hair obscuring her pale face.

“Nina,” he whispered, like a prayer. She blinked up at him slowly, causing him to gasp out another sob as he pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly it was a wonder she could breathe.

“Baby, my sweet baby,” he exhaled shakily disbelieving that this could be true.

“Papa, my arm hurts,” she slurred tiredly, eyes falling shut once more.

He pulled back from her with a searching look, but she was unconscious again, her breath coming in strained puffs.

Erik quickly tore off his over shirt and used it to bandage her arm tightly; the arrow had run clean through her -the impact and blood loss causing her to lose consciousness as she was thrown to the ground.

He lifted her easily into his arms and made for the house at breakneck speed, for once thankful for his years on the run treating his own wounds and those of his rare comrades.

He could save her, he would save her. He owed Magda that at least. He owed Nina safety. He owed it to himself to try.

After bandaging Nina’s wounds and getting her hydrated, he packed their few belongings and left her to rest in his and Magda’s bed, knowing it would comfort her if she woke again while he was gone.

Erik made his way back to the clearing for Magda’s body. He removed the arrow and cradled her against his chest, tears coming heavily once more.

“I’m sorry darling, I’m so sorry,” he sobbed into her hair, he set a shovel digging behind the large tree in their kitchen window.

After a moment’s thought he snipped one of her thick, dark curls for a keepsake before laying her down next to her impromptu grave.

It was better than what his parents had gotten, she’d be remembered, she’d be mourned properly he swore. Every day for the rest of his life.

“Papa?” he heard Nina call from inside the house, he glanced up at the sky, surprised to see the very beginnings of the dawn creeping through the trees.

The night had been longer than he’d thought, but he wondered if he’d ever rest again.

“Here baby girl,” he called softly as he re entered to house to take her up in his arms again, “Come darling, we have to say goodbye to your Mama.”

“The bad men took mama?” she asked frightend.

He paused before answering, “It was an accident. But mama is with grandma and grandpa now and they are all watching over us from heaven.”

“Did grandma and grandpa keep me safe?” she asked sadly.

“Yes baby, they kept you safe here with me.”

“Are the bad men coming back?” she asked, looping her good arm around his neck as frightened tears streamed down her pale face.

“No baby, never again. And we’re going somewhere safe, too.”

“Don’t leave me papa?” she sniffled against his neck.

“Never,” his voice broke once more as he carried her out back to give her mother a kiss and lay flowers in her arms.

He covered Magda over as Nina held a silent vigil with dozens of animals who’d arrived in response to her emotional pain.

He left her with them to grab their bags and load the car.

By the time they were ready to go, Nina seemed oddly composed, though still exhausted. “They will watch over mama for us,” she said softly, clutching her favorite doll like a life line.

He gave her a sad smile, relieved that she’d have some sense of closure in spite of losing her mother at such a young age in such a violent way.

He started the car and put their little house behind them, only happy that he could take some of the joy he’d found there with him

He’d promised Nina a safe place, now he just needed to find a way to get back into New York. After all these years he had to believe Charles would help him one last time.

~~

Charles pulled back from his view of Moira in Cairo, on his way back to the confines of his own head, he felt tugged towards a mind he’d know anywhere, but one that he’d avoided at all costs and that hadn’t called out to him in years.

He considered not answering the pull, but he’d never been able to deny Erik anything, much less a moment of his attention from half a world away.

He gasped in surprise at what he saw upon closer observation.

“What is it?” Hank asked, already starting to move away.

“More like who.” Charles answered absently. “ _Hello Old Friend_.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long overdue reunion, introspection.

Charles was on his way to Erik before he fully had time to process his own thoughts on the matter. Hank prepared the jet and within minutes they were in the air.

“Erik is back? With a kid?” Hank had a more difficult time hiding his shock than Charles did. Of course he’d always recognized Erik’s longing for love and affection the way only a kindred spirit can.

They’d each gone on to build families in their own way; he refused to feel melancholy at the long abandoned dreams of making a future together.

“Yes, he has a daughter, Nina.” He rapidly expanded upon what little he'd gleaned from Erik's life over the past ten years, leaving out the more emotional aspects as neither Hank nor Erik would thank him for sharing.

Hank nodded his acceptance, “I will admit to wondering where he’d gotten to, I’m glad to see…well in any case I guess we’re getting a new student.”

“Looks that way,” Charles murmured absently, mind still whirring with the shock and delight that always came from contact with Erik.

He couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t if he hadn’t experienced it with his own senses. Erik’s mind was so changed, he was more at peace than Charles had ever seen him before, the darkness that had always consumed his mind having been overtaken by the peace and joy he’d always wanted for his friend.

He couldn’t help but be grateful to the woman who’d brought so much happiness to Erik, who’d saved him from the darkness in his soul. He relived the moment of her death in Erik’s mind. Felt his heartache, his despair, heard his anguished cry to the heavens. Before “Papa.” The most beautiful sound he’d ever heard.

Charles surreptitiously wiped a tear at the golden joy of that moment, surely the finest in Erik’s life.

“You should get some rest Charles; we’ll be there in a few hours.” Hank said softly, bringing Charles back to the present.

“Thank you Hank, I’ll do that,” he settled more comfortably in his seat, it was less comfortable than the wheelchair, but offered secure upper body support that allowed him to rest if he chose to.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but it was elusive. He slipped into a meditative state to try and sort his feelings which were roiling and keeping him awake.

It had taken time, years in fact, but he’d finally forgiven Erik. He’d even forgiven Raven and eventually forgiven himself, because yes, he’d played his own role in the mess that their lives had become.

His feelings for Erik had always been a jumble. He suspected himself of envy, though it wasn’t like him. It’s just that Erik was everything a man _should_ be; tall, and fit, handsome, with a wry sense of humor. He also had one of the most unique and powerful mutations Charles had ever seen. He had drive and purpose and was a natural leader of men.

He’d also had a life any man would long for, with a wife and a family, something Charles had always wanted for himself but never found.

Yes, perhaps Charles envied his friend, just a bit. Thoughts of Moira flickered through his mind, she was just as gorgeous as ever and once upon a time he’d thought _perhaps_. Then with his spinal injury and her devotion to her job-well, he’d let her go, the way he let everyone go. And none had come back.

Except now, Erik.

Charles  shifted uncomfortably in his seat as his mind turned to Magda. Erik’s beloved. His wife. The one who’d finally brought him peace.

He mourned the fact that he’d never meet her. He would never know how she changed Erik. What had she offered that he couldn’t?

Emotionally that is. The physical differences were obvious, as was the difference between a close friendship and a marriage.

Was it because age had mellowed his fellow mutant? Was it love? He loved Erik as his brother and friend, but he of all people knew the loneliness that came with having only friendships as a source of love. The thought nettled, he didn't like to think of himself as a lonely man. But still, sometimes he missed Raven with an ache that hollowed him out. Had Magda filled that gap for Erik? Had he filled it for her? He couldn’t ask her, he’d never know.

But that was irrelevant he chided himself mentally, it was churlish to be jealous of a dead woman.

The thought jolted him from his meditation, catching Hank’s attention in the form of a concerned frown. He shook off Hank’s worry with practiced ease before forcing himself into a semblance of calm though his mind was still alight with revelations.

Jealous? Why would he be jealous of Magda?

“Coming in for a landing, Professor, that must be his car,” Hank gestured to the meadow they were approaching and the small black car parked unobtrusively by the side of the road.

Charles took a deep breath, he'd been wandering the halls of his mind for far longer than he'd suspected. He transferred himself to his chair and settled in for their landing, pushing his introspection aside for the time being. He had more important issues to worry about than his own confusion.

~~

Erik parked in the middle of nowhere an empty field that a farmer had left fallow for the season; well out of sight of any form of civilization. He checked Nina again; she’d fallen asleep almost as soon as their house was out of sight, as usual lulled by the soothing motion of the car across the bumpy country lanes. He was relieved to note that her breathing had evened out and that she hadn’t bled through her bandages after he changed them the second time.

She was healing, she just might be alright. He felt the knot of tension in his chest loosen just a bit more.

Charles had directed him here, a few hours from the house, in a different jurisdiction if Erik wasn’t mistaken. The officers who’d come to arrest him would have been missed by now but a manhunt wouldn’t extend this far for quite some time.

They were safe, at least for the time being.

He sat on the hood of the car and watched the day pass, letting the stress and horror of the past few hours flow through him until he could draw a full breath without a piercing pain taking root beneath his ribs.

Magda, he’d promised her he’d changed, that he’d never kill again and yet he’d committed multiple murders moments after she fell. Her body was still warm in his arms when he broke his word to her.

She was his lodestone, without her was he doomed to be a ruthless killer? She was the only one who’d seen a good man when she looked at him. He'd worked hard to live up to the light in her eyes, and now it was all for nothing.

~ _There is good in you Erik, I can see it_ ~ clear blue eyes that the sky could only mimic shone bright with affection. A treasured memory from years past, long forgotten surfaced in his mind.

No, Magda hadn’t been the first or only person to see good in him. Or to want him to stay. He’d blamed Charles for their separation for so long, but he’d come to see his own hand in it as well. He was finally able to admit to himself that the guilt he felt for seeing Charles crippled had kept him away in those few painful months before his arrest.

He’d often wondered how different might his life have been had he stayed at Charles’ side or returned after Cuba. Had it really been 20 years? 

He wished he’d reached out sooner. Charles would have been proud of the life he’d built for himself. He’d have loved the other mutant to meet Magda. He’d even have been happy to take the riffing about having a human wife after being Magneto for so long.

That was all hindsight now; he’d never had the courage to reach out to Charles who deserved to move on from the destruction Erik always wreaked in his life. He wondered if Charles and Magda would have gotten along.

He wondered, as he had for years, when blue eyes had become such a comfort to him. The night he met Magda her eyes had called to him, like a beacon of understanding. He’d immediately felt at home and the happiest years of his life had followed.

Just then, he tiniest bunny he’d ever seen hopped to the car, entirely unafraid and blinked up at him with wide, dark eyes. Nina must be awake he smiled to himself. She climbed out of the back seat and let him boost her up onto the hood to sit next to him, bunny now cradled in her arms.

She leaned her head against his ribs as he tucked her close under his arm. His little darling loved to cuddle, he was so grateful to have the chance to hold her again. “Why did we stop, papa? Is this our safe place?” She asked, sounding more alert than she had in hours.

He smiled at her naiveté, she trusted him so fully that even an abandoned field looked like home as long as he was there. His smile broke as he remembered his last conversation with Magda, “We are her family, we are her home.”

“Papa?” she looked up at him with wide, blue eyes, now with shadows lurking in their depths. He cursed the men who’d put them there.

“Hmm? No, darling. An old friend of mine is coming here and we’ll go with him to his house, there we will be safe.

“Bunny too?” she asked coyly.

He frowned; she never wanted to take animals out of their habitat. “Sweetheart, the bunny has his own family to get back to, _you_ told me that,” he poked her nose gently.

She shook her head sadly, “No, the mama bunny was caught in a snare and the other bunnies starved without her, he’s the last bunny.” Tears filled her eyes as she spoke, her heart breaking for her newfound friend.

Ah, a kindred spirit. “Alright then, he can come and be safe too,” he said kindly.

She gave him a contented smile and turned her attention back to her little friend.

Erik flinched at a sound from the woods, but felt no metal and realized it was just another wild creature soothed by his child. He tried to relax his vigilant stance, but it proved difficult, he didn’t care what happened to him, if he was captured and killed it wouldn’t matter as long as Nina was safe with Charles.

He smiled sadly to himself at the realization that the man he’d once considered worse than a traitor was the only one he’d trust to keep his most precious treasure safe. What an odd thing life was.

He turned his attention and senses back to the sky, eagerly waiting for the plane to arrive.

~~

Nina was coaxing the bunny to eat his fill of fresh, sweet clover when Erik felt but didn’t see a sleek jet approaching.

“Nina! Our ride is here!” he called, waving her back over to the car as he opened it to collect their bags. Her mouth dropped open in surprised delight when the landed plane appeared in their field of vision.

“It’s magic Papa!” she cried brightly, letting her bunny nestle in the crook of her bound arm as she clutched his hand tightly.

Before he could respond, he felt Charles’ presence brush against his mind like balm to burned skin. He sighed and leaned into it.

~ _Oh my friend, you are not alone_ ~ He felt Charles’s surprise mingle with his own as the memory swelled between them, taking them back to that night in the water so long ago before it faded just as abruptly as it had arrived.

Nina was tugging his hand excitedly as the gangplank lowered and Charles came into view with an untransformed Henry at his side.

She gasped at the sight and suddenly fell shy, half hiding behind his leg as she peered out curiously. He relaxed into the warm presence of Charles against his mind, not intruding, just there. He’d forgotten how much he missed it.

They approached the plane slowly, Henry coming down to meet him halfway with a handshake. “Erik, I’m sorry for your loss.” He said softly. Erik returned his handshake with one of his own. It was nice to see someone from the old days.

“Thank you Hank, this is my daughter, Nina.”

“Nina, say hello to Hank.”

Instead she gazed up at him almost lovingly, Hank in turn seemed almost mesmerized. “Hello, Nina,” he finally said aloud after a long, silent moment.

She blinked and pulled away from Erik to take Hank trustingly by the hand, “You’re an animal and a man," she said simply.

Erik hid a small grin at the look on Henry’s face.

“That’s quite impressive Nina; you were able to speak directly to Hank’s _beast_ as it were,” Charles cut in sounding as amused as Erik felt.

She nodded bashfully, trying not to stare at Charles’ wheelchair though she was clearly fascinated by it in the way of young children. “Nina, this is Charles, the friend I told you about,” Erik said softly, placing his arm around her shoulders.

“With the house where we will be safe?” She asked Charles directly.

“Yes, and there are lots of other kids there your age who can each do something very special, like you can with animals,” he said gently, feeling her tender aura press sweetly against his senses.

She seemed stunned by that and simply blinked at him silently before scrambling after Hank who’d gone to load their bags.

Erik tracked her by the necklace he’d cleaned and placed around her neck the night before. If he had his way she’d never know what it had been used for while she lay unconscious on the ground.

“Erik,” Charles said warmly.

“Charles,” he smiled at the other man, extending a hand which the Brit shook firmly, neither letting go when they were done. “I can’t thank you enough for this. After everything-”

But Charles was already shaking his head, a small frown marring his brow, “Erik, my dear friend that is all behind us now, all that matters is getting you and Nina to safety.”

Erik gave a brief nod in agreement, “It sounds like you finally opened your school,” he said hesitantly.

Charles seemed confused by his distant manner, “Yes, I did. It’s been a rather busy time but after…well after D.C. we were public. The school has flourished, you’ll see. It’ll be a great environment for Nina.”

“Charles,” he glanced back over his shoulder to where Hank and Nina were quickly making their way up the gangplank. “I want Nina to be safe and I promised I wouldn’t leave her. But I can…if you’ll allow her to stay. I would be-”

~ _Erik you’ve always been welcome home_ ~ Charles spoke warmly into his mind, causing him to sag with relief as Nina approached,

~ _Thank you my friend_ ~

“Think nothing of it,” he said aloud.

“Nothing of what, Mr. Charles?” Nina asked curiously, stepping in to shyly shake Charles’ offered hand.

“Of our trip to the school, dear. Now why don’t you strap in. Have you ever been on a plane before?” he asked with a soft smile, already knowing the answer.

She shook her head mutely, radiating nervous tension which Charles soothed with a brush of his power leaving her mind open and interested to the idea of flying and seeing another country.

“It’s very fun and exciting,” he assured her warmly, “why don’t you ride up front with Hank so you can have a good view?”

“Really?” She asked excitedly, looking to her father for approval.

“Go ahead; he’ll probably have you flying the thing before we land,” he said dryly.

“We’ll be just like birds Papa!” she grinned at him and hurried after Hank who was strapping their luggage down.

They watched her go with paternal eyes, “I love them at that age, she’s eight?” Charles said quietly. Erik nodded eyes tight with exhaustion. “Let’s get strapped in and we’ll be on our way. I can help send you off if you like. You’re on the edge of collapse old friend,” Charles added when it looked like Erik would refuse.

Erik begrudgingly agreed but only if Charles promised to wake him if Nina needed him or they were hailed by another craft or tower.

Before he knew it, they were in the air and he felt the familiar nudge of Charles guiding him to a peaceful slumber. A trick he’d come to appreciate on their long ago road trip when his nightmares had a tendency to keep them both awake. He sank into it with a blissful sigh, saving his worries for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response to the first chapter was overwhelming! Thank you all so much for your interest! I'll try to post as frequently as possible. I have this planned out so hopefully it won't take too long to see through. As always, comments and kudos are love!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time skips! Changes to the movie! Allusions to the battle! Great news! Personal revelations. Relationship development!

Charles was floating. Mindless. Perhaps bodyless he mused. I think therefore I am. I’m thinking so I must have a mind. Voices drifting closer from far away.

“Professor?” Hank

 _~Professor?~_ Jean 

“Charles?” Moira

“Professor?” Peter 

“Charles, come on,” Raven

“Charles, please.” Erik. Blue eyes fluttered open to lock with verdigris eyes on the verge of panic.

“I’m here my friend,” the relief Erik exuded flooded his mind like the sweetest devotion. He smiled and sank into it like a warm bath after a long day, eyes drifting closed once more.

“Charles,” a warm hand on his head. _His head?_ Not in his hair? He lifted a hand to cover Erik’s where it smoothed over his scalp.

~ _Don’t touch my hair~_ Neither man could say which of them had remembered that moment in the first Cerebro but they were soon giggling like school boys, the tension of the past few days finally catching up to them.

“Guys?” Hank cut in awkwardly as the rest of their exhausted team huddled around them in drained silence.

“Yes Hank?” Charles asked, allowing Erik to help pull him into a sitting position, one firm arm braced at his back so he could still semi recline. And didn’t that feel _odd_ almost like… suddenly he froze.

Erik was immediately on the alert, “Charles? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I think I can…” instead of speaking he gripped Erik’s hand tightly and bent his knee, placing the sole of his foot on the rug that was serving as his bed.

They stared at his leg in shock, like it had done it of its own volition.

“Charles.”

“Shhh”~ _don’t jinx it_ ~ he carefully bent his other leg and wiggled his toes for good measure. “Is this real?” he whispered softly, looking up at Erik with the light of hope in his eyes. “This is too much like a dream.”

Erik’s heart broke to hear that, how many times over the years had Charles dreamt of waking up healed?

~ _Not only that_ ~ he smiled wryly, rolling his eyes at Erik’s confusion.

 And then it hit him. _He could feel his legs_. Then he was crying, still clutching Erik’s hand and turning into his warm embrace, feeling more right than he had in years if ever. Raven shrieked in delight and pulled him into a hug of their own.

Of course their celebration could only last for so long when he, Kurt, and Peter were so infirm that they could barely maintain consciousness for minutes at a stretch.

So, like parody of Cuba, he rested his head on Moira’s lap as Hank pressed random points on his legs and feet after Erik and Raven left with Scott to secure transportation.

The look Erik shot him as he left told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t the only one remembering that distant shore.

“Charles,” Moira caught his attention and smiled down at him. “I missed you and I didn’t even realize it.”

He was surprised by the acceptance he found in her mind, “You’re not upset?”

“I suppose I would be but I _shot you_. After the way I felt about you the guilt probably would have driven me mad,” she choked out around a knot of tears.

He knew it wouldn’t have. She had one of the strongest minds he’d ever encountered, but he accepted her apology with ease, grasping her small, soft hand in his larger, callous ridden one.

“All’s mended love,” he said softly, wiggling his toes from where they were exposed from the impromptu exam Hank had given him.

She gave a watery laugh at his attempt at humor, bending to press a light kiss to his brow, awareness of what might have been clouding the air between them.

He thought, _perhaps._

~~

The battle had been brutal, the X-men reformed, stronger than before.

Charles next woke in the hospital nearest his home in upstate New York, courtesy of the CIA he was sure. He and the X-men had received the best medical care Cairo could offer and were received as heroes back home.

Even Erik who had been stoic on the outside but was deeply abashed by the positive attention. Apparently the international news had caught great shots of him hurling metal at Apocalypse before his magnetism cut their feed.

 _~Nina must be so proud~_ he thought to the other man, earning a half smile in return.

~ _I broke my promise never to leave her in less than 48 hours, Charles~_

The telepath rolled his eyes tiredly ~ _Only to save the world, I’m sure she’ll forgive you my friend~_

_~I hope so, I hope she understands~_

“If she doesn’t you’ll explain it to her, she’s a bright girl,” Charles murmured, soaking in Erik’s soft delight at his words like a sponge.

The metal manipulator would never say anything but he was terrified that his child would see him in a new light and be frightened of him. He was almost reluctant to explain himself to her for fear of looking into her eyes and seeing censure.

Charles placed a comforting hand on Erik’s forearm and smiled up at him, “That’s never gonna happen, you’re her Papa, you were already her hero. Her biggest problem will likely be sharing you with everyone else.” He grinned at the way Erik’s mind lit up as his words struck home.

“How many times have I told you to stay out of my head?” he asked the familiar question with a playful note of teasing that stunned the telepath.

~ _I never should have blocked you out. I should have trusted you then the way I do now~_ he said honestly.

Charles gave a helpless shrug ~ _You weren’t ready then_ ~

Erik gave a disgusted sigh, “You’re too forgiving Charles, but I won’t complain as I’m the beneficiary of your naiveté.”

Charles simply rolled his eyes in response, only Erik would still consider him naïve after all he’d been through.

“Are the phones functional? I want to call the school to check on the kids, they must be terrified after those bombs were released,” Charles said with a guilty mien.

“That wasn’t your fault! He was able to use your power through you; Erik shuddered at the memory as Charles took comfort in his familiar vehemence.

“Thank you Erik, I’m just happy no one was hurt.” _This time_ went unspoken, but hung in the air between them like a miasma.

“Charles-“

“It’s fine my friend, I just need to check in with the staff.”

“Charles- it’s about the school.” Erik said hesitantly before filling him in on the events after the destruction of Cerebro.

Havok trying to save him and hitting the fuselage on the jet as the portal closed and missed his blast.

Peter arriving just in time to save them all. Almost all. He held Charles as he cried and even shed a few tears of his own for the boy they’d saved, trained, loved, and ultimately lost.

Once the telepath had absorbed the loss, Erik continued his tale with Stryker capturing them and the students breaking them out of the facility at Alkali Lake before they all flew to Cairo to rescue him.

“Charles I thought I’d never see you again once he pulled you into that portal, you were limp like a ragdoll.” His eyes were filled with anguish at the memory.

“I’m sorry you went through that, I’m sorry I promised safety and it didn’t last a day,” he said weakly, heart still aching for the loss of his friend and his home.

“Its fine, Nina and the rest of the kids were unharmed. They and the staff were left where they fell after Stryker’s knock out waive. Mutations intact and everything.” Erik gave him a reassuring squeeze. Neither of them thought to pull away from their close embrace on the narrow hospital bed where Erik had climbed in to comfort his tears.

“Good thing you’re so skinny,” Charles murmured warmly.

“I’m sure your cook will fatten me up, he was already getting at Nina about her favorite foods,” Erik smiled at the memory, shifting slightly to allow Charles to move into a seated position, still struggling to re-accustom his body to having functional legs.

“Are you alright?” “

"Yes, Moira just got off the elevator and I want to prevent my best face under the circumstances.” He ran a hand over his smooth head and grimaced at his hospital johhny.

Erik laughed at his efforts and shifted off the bed to stand at his side. “You look fine, women love to care for a wounded soldier,” he said confidently.

“I’m sure you’d know,” he teased lightly, laughing at Erik’s mock sour expression.

There came a soft knock at the door, Erik shot him a wink ~ _you’ve had this in the bag for 20 years_ ~

Moira gave him a confused look as he gave her a nod and walked past her chuckling. She ducked past him and into the room to great Charles who was looking vastly improved.

“Thank you my dear, you’re looking remarkably well recovered yourself,” he said with a soft smile. Moira blushed at his kind words and set the vase of flowers she’d picked up for him in one of the few empty spots in the room.

“I guess you didn’t need these,” she chuckled at the massive botanical array lining all of the available surfaces.

“The more the merrier,” he said taking her by the hand as she sat on the edge of the bed in the place Erik had just vacated. The thought rankled for some reason but he didn’t take the time to explore the reasons behind it.

With a quick glimpse into Moira’s mood and thoughts he saw that Erik was right, she was definitely interested and had been since their meeting in her office. He grinned and made an effort to turn on the charm and see what would follow. Perhaps indeed.

~~

It was a miracle, like something out of a dream to feed Erik and Jean blueprints of the school and watch them build something together.

Nina sat Indian style at his side in the shade, her bunny nibbling happily on dandelions nearby. She was one of the more quiet children and was quite drawn to Jean which boosted the lonely teens self worth by quite a few notches.

“We can talk quietly,” was all she would way on the matter and Charles suspected that was the same reason she liked him as well, thought he couldn’t pin her hair up in the styles Jean had promised so he’d settle for second best.

“I miss my mama,” she said suddenly after a moment of thoughtful silence.

His heart broke for her and the pain she’d suffered in her childhood playground.

Sadly he’d had all too much experience with lonely, grieving children so he knew what to say. “I know you do, dear. And that’s alright, it will take a long time for it to stop hurting but someday you’ll be able to think of her and remember the happy times.” He said softly, reaching out to give her pony tail a light tug.

She sniffled and plucked absently at the grass, “Your eyes are like my mama’s eyes.” She said so quietly he could barely hear her over the raucous noise the other children were making as they dashed about on the bucolic afternoon.

Once he’d pieced together her soft words he was at a loss of how to respond. He sat in stunned silence, watching the dappled sunlight flicker through the lush foliage above them. Should he ask Erik what to say? Look into Nina’s mind and see what she needed to hear? Before he could come to a conclusion she scooted closer to him and leaned against his side and placed her head on his shoulder, he draped his arm over her tiny frame companionably.

~ _I like it_ ~ she projected gently, almost wordlessly as she was accustomed to doing with animals. A wave of relief washed over him with her words. In spite of the suffering they’d all been through in the past few days, they still had each other. They’d be alright.

He glanced up at just the right moment to see Erik turn and catch a glimpse of them cuddling in the shade. The look of unalloyed tenderness that he gave his daughter filled Charles with a sense of purpose. Magda had helped Erik find peace he would do his best to help him keep it.

~~

“Are you going to tell him he’s your dad?” Ororo asked Peter as they watched his father put the finishing touches on the roof.

He shrugged and gave an impish twist of his lips. “Maybe, someday. I haven’t decided yet,” he said truthfully.

“Why not? You’re no coward,” she asked curiously.

“No, but he’s already got a kid, what if he doesn’t need one more?”

She shook her head at him fondly, “Peter, that just means you have a sister too. Have you thought about her? She just lost her mother. It may do her some good to know she has more family around.” She said softly, thinking of her time on the streets after her parents died.

He heaved a sigh at her words, but didn’t address them. “I think I’ll stick around here, see what happens.”

She shot him a conspiratorial grin, “Me too.”

~~

Peter had been thinking on Ororo’s words since the early afternoon. The house was finished and everyone was moving back in and getting settled.

He’d come all this way to find his father after those missiles launched, then gone all the way to Cairo with him to save his oldest friend. It seemed like a punk move to chicken out now.

He settled into his room in about a minute, including the trips he had to make to his old room at his moms house to get his stuff.

He wasn’t in the boys dorm as he was too old to be a student but wasn’t actually a teacher. He wondered if Charles suspected something when he was placed on the same hall as Erik and his kid, but no, the other teachers lived there as well, the staff quarters one floor above the girls and two above the boys.

He went around, watching everyone get settled for like hours. Nina was lucky to have her personal belongings intact. Apparently the luggage they’d arrived with was steel reinforced so nothing of theirs was damaged in the blast.

His father seemed pretty cool in that respect, and watching them interact made him seem like a really great dad.

He felt a coil of jealousy stir in his gut though he knew it wasn’t fair. It was clear that if Erik had known who he was he’d have been there for him as a kid. “Bad timing” His mother had called it, thereby winning the award for understatement of the century.

He waited until Nina had run down to find Jean before knocking on the door to Erik’s room. He’d peeked, the guy was folding clothes as mechanically as a robot and putting them away in a very particular order. _That_ clearly wasn’t hereditary.

The door swung open at the rap of his knuckles and he stepped inside trying not to feel nervous.

“Peter, what can I do for you?” Erik asked, stopping his task to face his visitor.

“I- nothing. I-um. I need to tell you something,” he fidgeted in place. Erik simply watched him patiently, waiting for him to get it out. “Do you remember when I busted you out of the Pentagon?” He blurted out.

Erik quirked an eyebrow in amusement, “Yes, I do recall, it was one of the more memorable experiences of my life. I owe you my thanks, without your assistance I would still be trapped in that hell,” he walked forwards and extended a hand which Peter shook absently.

“Yeah, dude no problem. But like I mentioned then...my mom knew a guy who could move metal.” Erik suddenly went very still, he didn’t seem to breathing. It was freaky so Peter rushed through the rest in a single breath.

“So I asked and that guy was you and apparently you’re my dad.” He twitched, fighting the urge to run to Mexico and back to get rid of his nervous tension.

Erik had a far off look in his eye, “Is your mother named _Victoria?_ ,” they said the name at the same time then fell silent.

“I didn’t know,” he sank back down onto the bed with a lost look in his eyes. “You have to believe I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have left you,” he gave Peter a beseeching look.

“I know, I’ve seen you with Nina, you seem like a good guy. I don’t expect anything of you. I just wanted you to know.”

“You don’t expect anything? You’re my son, as much as Nina is my daughter.” He broke into a terrifying grin. "She always wanted a brother, you’ll do,” he stood and clasped his hand again in a firm grip before pulling him into a brief hug. “Thank you for telling me. I won’t let you down again,” he said solemnly.

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, and blinked rapidly a few times. “Yeah thanks man, maybe we could train together sometime?”

“I’d like that," he said sincerely. "Does that mean you’re staying on at the school?”

“Yeah, I kind of like it here.”

“Me too. Let me tell Nina about you before you say anything to her alright? I’ll re introduce you after that, probably tomorrow depending on how it goes."

“Great! I have a lot of experience, I grew up with a sister you know?”

“No, I didn’t. Did Vicky get married?” he asked, taking in every aspect of his son, eyes roving over him like he was the most amazing thing in the world.

It was weird but nice.

Peter blushed and looked away. “Nah, not her style.”

Erik nodded in understanding, “She always was a free spirit.”

“I’d better go,” he hesitated before turning back nervously. “You’re handling this really well…”

“Inside I’m screaming,” he said dryly, making Peter chuckle nervously, awkwardly tugging at his hair.

“Well this may make you do it out loud. My sister?”

“What about her?”

“She’s my twin.”

~~

“My god Erik, you had _kids_ before we went to _Cuba_?” Charles asked, incredulous.

“Seems that way,” he said still dazed by the revelations from earlier in the evening.

“Okay, lets stop,” Charles sank onto a soft bench placed in the hall they’d been pacing for the last twenty minutes.

“You’re doing great, Charles. You’ll be running before long,” he reassured the tired telepath who’d been using his arm as support to practice walking.

Charles shot him a grateful look for his tact, “not as fast as your son.”

“No one is as fast as my son,” he countered proudly, sitting next to him as he caught his breath.

Charles grinned in response, “You’re a great dad, Erik, really. I’m proud of you.” His beautiful blue eyes practically glowed in the low light of the hall.

Erik felt a surge of pleasure at his words and knew Charles picked up on it from his subtle reaction of leaning more heavily against his side.

“I wanted to try life your way.” He admitted softly. “I wanted you to be right, and you were. Two out of three of our battles have been against mutants who wanted to subjugate us all.”

He gazed into his friends eyes, now bright with relief and understanding. “You were right too, Erik. Some humans, like Stryker, will come after us. But after D.C. and Cairo, we have real hope that the majority will see us in a positive light long enough for us to become a majority.”

Erik gave a half smile at that, “I hope so, for the sake of my kids and all the kids you’re raising.”

Charles huffed a laugh, “I’m not _raising_ them, it’s a boarding school.”

“Whatever you say professor,” he said glibly before standing and offering a hand to help Charles stand. “One more round?”

He gave a determined nod ~ _Nothing ventured nothing gained_ ~

They were making their way towards the picture window when Charles shot Erik a concerned look when the taller man was the one to stumble slightly as they made their way down the hall. He shook off the telepaths look of confusion though he could feel Charles’ mind buzzing with concern and curiosity at his lapse. But he didn’t share, he couldn’t. He was too ashamed to realize that he hadn’t thought of Magda since hearing Peter’s news. His first thought had been to find Charles which is what he’d done.

He pushed his guilt aside; Charles was his friend and confidante. They were closer than brothers after what they’d been through.  It was a perfectly natural reaction to life changing news he tried to convince himself. But even to him his excuses sounded hollow and the memory of Charles’ words “I’m proud of you” filled the empty places in his heart like nothing he’d ever known.

On some level he could admit that his goal after the debacle in D.C. had been to make Charles proud, to hopefully prove him right. He was a man who liked to accomplish goals, that was all, he assured himself. Nothing more to it.

He allowed Charles to lightly change the subject to recruiting him as a teacher, he didn't plan on joining the staff. But he loved Charles' pitch, it couldn't  hurt to hear it one more time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if anything doesn't make sense in this chapter! Also point out any typos and grammatical errors! Thank you all so much for your support and your lovely comments and kudos!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning! Nina meets Peter! Charles and Erik spend quality time together! Wanda is introduced!

“Papa?”

“Yes baby?” he asked softly. He’d just finished singing her special song and she was on the cusp of sleep. She seemed relaxed and content, but he made a mental note to keep the door connecting their rooms cracked so he could keep track of her in the night.

He knew how sudden, realistic, and terrifying nightmares could be and he’d protect her from them if he could. He’d protect her from all things if possible.

“Papa, what’s wrong?” She asked worriedly.

He was taken aback by her certainty that something was troubling him as he hadn’t let on. But he recalled Charles saying she was something of an empath as part of her mutation. He’d just supposed she could only read animals.

“I’m sorry to scare you, Nina. Nothing is wrong, I was just thinking about some news I got today,” he said gently, giving her a reassuring pat on the belly.

“What news? Do you have to leave again?” She frowned, blinking back a sudden rush of tears.

“No no, nothing like that,” he hurried to reassure her, cursing his timing. “...Do you know how mama and I came together to make you?”

She nodded slowly, having a clear understanding of the natural order of things based on her connection to nature.

“Well, a long time before you were born, before I met your mama, I came together with another lady and together we made two babies.”

Her frown deepened as she took in this news. He sat silently with her to allow her to process it.

“So, you have more babies?” she asked after a long moment.

He gave a tense laugh, “They’re not babies, Nina, they are grown ups in their twenties and I only found out about them today,” he assured her softly, watching her closely for negative reactions.

“How did you find out?” she asked suspiciously.

“You know the fast guy who saved us all from the explosion?”

She was instantly curious “Yes? Does he know them?”

“He is one of them; he is my son and your older brother. You also have an older sister, but I haven’t met her yet.”

“They’re my brother and sister?!” She asked excitedly, sitting up bolt right in bed.

Erik chuckled at the about face in her emotions, she’d always wanted siblings, but he and Magda had agreed on one after she manifested. They didn’t want to draw more attention than they already did.

“Yes, darling. And you can meet Peter again tomorrow and get to know him better as I will.”

She settled back onto the bed with a thoughtful look but didn’t say anything else. He straightened her sheets and leaned in to give her one more kiss. “Sleep well darling, I’m right through that door if you need me,” he reminded her gently.

“Yes papa, goodnight.” She curled up as she liked to and snuggled into her pillow, dropping off to sleep as easily as breathing, a trait he’d always envied.

He wondered what she was thinking as she fell asleep, how would she react to having siblings? Would she and Peter get along? And what about his other daughter, would she even want to meet him?

He left Nina’s room quietly and resigned himself to a long night of tossing and turning, reliving the day he left Vicky not knowing she was carrying his children. He’d never checked back in with her, though there had been a risk.

He’d been foolish and self assured and now his children had grown up without him in their lives. He’d seen firsthand how Charles’ students reacted to their mutations, especially if they were alone in a community of humans. It was often a traumatic and isolating experience. But it seemed like Vicky had done her best by the twins, hell Peter had lived with her until today.

But it wasn’t enough, he doubted he could ever make his absence up to them, unintentional though it may have been. He had a sudden, strong desire to talk this over with Charles.

His mind must have called out as well because a few moments later _~Yes, Erik?~_

 _~I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.~_ he said, chagrinned.

_~You’re never bothering me my friend. You’ve had quite a shock today, anyone would want a friend to confide in~_

_~I already confided in you, I’m not sure why my mind is still stuck on this~_

~ _You feel everything very deeply my friend, from love, to guilt, to responsibility. You feel that you have failed your children, you feel guilty about it and no I’m not reading that I just know you very well~_

Erik heaved a sigh and sat down on the edge of his bed, it seemed so big, so empty without Magda there. He didn’t know how he would fall asleep.

~ _I can’t sleep either, the nerves in my legs are so sensitive it’s hard for me to rest~_ Charles confided softly. ~ _Don’t feel like you’re troubling me, I’m just lying here awake, feeling the sheets on my skin~_

An image of Charles, pale and strong resting against smooth sheets flickered through Erik’s mind. He suppressed it instinctively, embarrassed by it, though he couldn’t say why.

~ _Well, if we’re both going to be awake, we may as well have a game_ ~

Charles perked up immediately ~ _I’ll set the board_ ~

Erik was impressed by how realistic it felt to play in Charles’ mind, as though he was actually sitting across the board from the other man. Except for the hair.

Charles caught his thought and gave a rueful chuckle, ~ _It’s hard to change my mental image of myself to being bald~_

Erik cocked his head to the side and watched the firelight flicker through the highlights in his friend’s hair. ~ _I like you either way, you have a good head for being bald~_

~ _Lucky me~_ Charles said dryly, blushing from the compliment.

They played a long, difficult game into the early hours of the morning, both using the time to forget their troubles and simply bask in present company.

Before he knew it, Erik was waking the next morning to find Nina and her bunny perched on the edge of his bed watching him avidly.

He’d slept far better than he could have imagined, thanks in no small part to baring his soul to Charles the night before an allowing himself to be soothed.

He gave them a smile and pulled Nina into his arms for her morning kiss before getting them started on the day. He’d made mistakes that he’d be paying for all his life, but his children weren’t among them.

~~

Peter was anxious, he’d run around all morning doing nothing, spying on people, trying not to steal. It was hard.

He’d checked in with his mom before she left for work and let her know that things were fine and he’d be staying at the school. Yes, with his father, yes he’d told him, yes he was fine with it, yes he remembered her. How did he look? Was he single? Well, he’d left unceremoniously after that. He still had time to make it to Chicago before Wanda left for work.

She didn’t even glance up as he appeared in her apartment and sat at in her breakfast nook. He’d eaten at his mother’s but cold cereal had nothing on pancakes.

She fixed him a plate while dancing around to the Beatles, no accounting for taste he supposed.

“What did I do to deserve pancakes?”

She rolled her eyes, “You saved the world Peter. I saw you on T.V. Plus mom called. Then last night I saw this morning in a dream and made you pancakes to say thank you. So, thank you.” She grinned at him, pride shinning in her eyes.

He returned her smile with one of his own, her powers made no sense, but they spoiled him nonetheless.

“Do you have to work today?”

“You know I do, why? What are you up to _now?_ ” She asked suspiciously.

“I met our dad, I told him about us. He’s Magneto, or he was.”

She nodded, “I wondered after what mom said and what you told me after DC.”

“He’s got a little girl; she’s like eight or nine, they’re staying at the school Dr. Xavier told me about ages ago.”

She nodded along with his words, eyes alight with interest, “That’s so cool, we have a sister and my father and brother are super heroes. A girl could do worse,” she bent down to kiss his cheek before settling in with her own plate.

“Can you come with me to meet Nina properly?” he all but begged.

She quirked an eyebrow, looking disturbingly like Erik for a moment, “Nina? Is that his daughter’s name?”

“Yes, and I’m meeting her today as her brother.”

“Sorry Pete, I’ve got work, come get me on the weekend and we’ll go then. Don’t worry! You’re a great brother the kid’ll love you!” She said with a chipper smile.

Sure she’d think so she was biased and _actually good with children_. He tried to point this out to no avail but finally agreed to drop her off at the elementary school where she taught music.

At the last second he considered taking her to Westchester whether she liked it or not, but he didn’t fancy suffering the repercussions of whatever her pink shocks would do to him today. There was always a different, bizarre result; even she couldn’t predict her weird powers.

Maybe Dr. X could check her out when she came to visit. It’d be worth a mention.

He left her by the front gate and made his way back to New York for his third breakfast. He was starving.

~~

Charles woke up lying on his stomach, limbs splayed out like an octopus. It was a wonderful feeling. He wiggled his toes and bent his knees, pushing up into a seated position. Thank goodness En Sabah Nur hadn’t wanted a damaged body.

He swung his legs off the bed and let his telepathy sweep the mansion and grounds, not finding any threats of danger. Most of the students were still asleep, while others were up getting their usual buffet breakfast.

His staff was the best money could buy and it showed.

He felt Peter arrive on the grounds and head for a shower, lord knew what he’d gotten up to so early. He could have gone to Japan and back before any of them even noticed he was gone.

Charles made his way gingerly to the bathroom to get ready for the day. His steps were still unsteady and his legs ached, muscles repaired but unused to strain. In his youth he never would have believed he could miss painful muscle cramps. Well, a lot could change in 20 years.

He thought fondly of the night before, falling asleep to a masterful game with Erik after a real conversation with a friend. Not a child, student, or employee but an equal who understood him like no one else. He hadn’t even known what he was missing until Erik came back.

The decade without him stretched on in his memory as a happy but lonely time, though he’d never admitted the latter to himself. Perhaps it was something he couldn’t see until he was out of it. Don’t know what you’ve got till its gone didn’t only have to apply to happiness he supposed.

He felt somewhat guilty that his new relationship with Moira wasn’t filling his emotional needs, but they had time to get to know each other. He comforted himself with the knowledge that it was early days for them.

Once they got to know each other again, surely the distance between them would change. The awkwardness and standoffishness that plagued them at odd moments…well, he wouldn’t dwell on it. He’d never had a problem charming women; Moira was just an unknown quantity.

He was still musing about the changes that had come to his life in a few short weeks when he felt a spike of _anxiety/alarm_ from Erik and Peter and a gentle pulse of _excitement/nervousness_ from Nina.

He chuckled as he made his slow way to dressing himself. Only Erik could have gotten himself into this situation.

~~

Erik sat with Nina, arm nearly fully healed and Peter, who apparently had superhuman healing as well as speed since his broken leg had healed in a matter of days.

Nina was her usual shy self, but Peter had drawn her out by bending to speak to her and asking plenty of questions about animals.

He asked what her favorite animal she’d never seen was a question that had confused Erik but made Nina laugh. She liked armadillos she admitted softly, if anxiously. Her brothers’ high energy aura seemed to put her on edge, though she was curious about him in her own way.

He won her over forever when she was holding a giant plush armadillo in her arms before she finished her sentence.

Her bunny cuddled the thing and promptly fell asleep. Erik rolled his eyes. Charles had warned him that the kid was a klepto. They’d have to talk about impromptu gifts, he could imagine what Peter would have to say about that.

“The zoo? Are the animals happy there?” Nina was asking skeptically.

Peter shrugged, “You can ask them when we go, if they’re not, we can do something about it,” he said with the confidence of a man who’d broken into every secure facility he could find. He was promising Nina, telling her that a zoo would be nothing compared to the Pentagon or the Louvre. Erik didn’t want to know.

Nina beamed, Erik forsaw a future for himself bailing at least two of his children out of custody on a regular basis. He’d reserve judgment on Wanda until he met her in person.

~ _Well they had to get something from you besides the X-gene~_ Charles laughed in his mind.

He sent a rude gesture back that simply made the telepath laugh harder. ~ _Head on down for breakfast while there’s still some left and before Peter convinces Nina to unleash the Wild Things as a distraction for some crime he’s planning to commit~_

Charles refused to tell him if that was actually what the kid was thinking or if he was making some horrible prediction about the possibilities of their combined powers. The man was insufferable; Erik  shared this opinion in no uncertain terms until Charles bypassed him and invited the kids down on their own.

Erik stood to go only to find the kids, the bunny, and the stuffed armadillo gone. He heard Nina’s echoing laugh down the hall as her necklace zipped to the ground floor.  It seemed Peter wasn’t going full speed, just faster than the human eye.

He chuckled to himself as he made his way to Charles’ room to help his friend down to the dining room, knowing the other man still needed help though he wouldn’t ask for it.

He looked forwards to the opportunity to spend the morning with Charles and tell him what he thought of his meddling.

For one glorious moment he felt the love of his wife and parents shine down on him, proud of the man he’d become. He knocked on Charles’ door, heart alight with happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your feedback!! More to come soon!! Comments are love!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff! Quality Cherik time! Little bit of Nina's perspective!!

Charles was having the best day he could remember in a very long time. He was sitting in the driver’s seat of a red two seater convertible that he’d just bought to celebrate his reclaimed ability to drive.

The car wasn’t exactly his style, but in efforts to include the children in his celebration gift to himself he’d let them pick the make and model.

Erik loved it as he loved all fine things and was seated next to him in the cramped passengers seat, an intense scowl painted on his handsome face.

“I’m just saying you couldn’t drive well 20 years ago and you haven’t driven since, a refresher course couldn’t hurt!”

The telepath rolled his eyes, Erik was itching to stop the car from working but was holding himself back by a thread knowing how much it would upset Charles and the few children who were ambling about watching them with rapt curiosity.

“That’s why you’re here! I‘ve no desire to spend more time at the DMV than necessary, much less for remedial driving course. Just give me a few pointers and we’ll take it from there!” he cajoled with a wide grin.

He felt Erik caving to the soft look in his eyes. Huh. But before he could focus on that the metal bender reluctantly agreed and released his grip on the keys allowing Charles to start the car to a small cheer from their audience.

Charles smiled and waved at the kids as Erik suppressed a small grin of his own.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about anyway, I was a fine driver back then, you’re just an overly harsh judge!” he griped playfully. Erik shot him a look and deliberately remembered a montage of near collisions and fender benders that they’d suffered when Charles was driving. Once they’d just about careened into a ditch because the Brit got distracted by some random thing or another.

Charles blushed to match the paint job on the car as Erik’s trip down memory lane came to an end. “That’s why you never slept while I was driving!” he accused with all the rancor of a man betrayed.

Erik finally gave in to his humor and shook with mirth, “I was afraid I would never wake up!” he finally cracked.

“I hate you,” he said stiffly, turning back to the task at hand and putting the car into drive with a jerk that made Erik wince.

~ _No you don’t_ ~ he really didn’t.

“Go gently with the car, my friend it’s done you no wrong,” Erik continued his teasing as they made their way around the circular drive at a snail’s pace.

“See I’m doing fine,” Charles said proudly after he’d successfully navigated the roundabout twice.

Erik gave him a despairing glance, “You almost hit the fountain!”

Charles waved his concern away carelessly, “Almost doesn’t count!”

“Mein Gott put both hands on the wheel!” Erik all but shouted.

Charles rolled his eyes but complied with minimal fuss. Their few watchers had long ago gotten bored with the show and drifted off to other activities.

“Erik.”

“Charles.”

They both spoke at the same time and stopped short.

“You go.”

“Thank you for this my friend, I’m sure there are many other things you could be doing with your time,” Charles said quietly.

Erik thought that over as they made their slow way around the gravel drive once more. “There’s no place I’d rather be.” He said honestly, seeming somewhat surprised by it himself.

Charles beamed at him, “In that case, what say we speed things up now?”

“ _No._ ”

~~

The incident had occurred close enough to summer break that Charles had declared it to arrive two weeks early. Allowing for classes to wrap up and exams to be administered.

The students and teachers were delighted and most of them went on their way home. Any child was welcome to stay on the grounds for school breaks if they had no home to return to or if they had lined up seasonal work in the area.

Within a few days the excitement had ended and he suddenly had much more free time on his hands. As much as he loved living under the same roof with Raven again, he made sure not to monopolize her time as she and Hank had begun something of a flirtation and could often be found in a comfortable coze together.

Ororo fit in with their new X-men very well, all of whom had decided to stay on for summer. Scott and Jean were growing closer and Ororo seemed to be harboring a crush on Peter. A fact that brought Erik no small amount of humor.

“Maybe I should offer to give him the talk? Do you think?” He chortled a laugh into his brandy one night as they relaxed after Nina was put to bed. Charles was keeping an eye on her from their location.

Charles rolled his eyes at the older man’s antics, “He’d be half way to Mexico before you properly got started.”

Erik concurred but couldn’t let it go, “This may be my only chance! Nina has no questions about how babies are made! Besides he’s my only son!”

Charles chuckled at that, “To think most parents dread having to give ‘The Talk’ and here you are looking for excuses.”

The red head shrugged, “I missed out on so much, so many little things and chances to embarrass him. Besides, perhaps he has questions,” he said defensively.

“Somehow I doubt that. Either way, you wouldn’t be the best person to ask,” Charles said absently.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Honestly Erik, _the twins_? Was _Nina_ even planned?” He demanded jokingly, hiding a smile at the other mans hot blush.

“That’s irrelevant.”

“It’s the most relevant part of the talk! No STDs no babies until you’re ready! What were you going to discuss with him, techniques?” Erik made to speak but Charles cut him off with a slight grimace. “Wait no, wait! I don’t want to know.”

Erik glowered at him from his seat, sullen in his silence.

Charles sighed; Erik could pout for days when given the chance. “Come on, want to try and beat me at chess?”

As he’d hoped the other man took the bait with a competitive gleam in his eye and soon they’d settled in to a close game by the bay window overlooking the back garden. The summer breeze circulated the room bringing in the light fragrance of honeysuckle and the rhythmic calls of crickets and frogs.

Soon they were both relaxed, previous conversation forgotten in favor of focus on their game play. Or so Charles thought until Erik spoke with studied casualness, eyes focused on the board.

“Were you ever ready?”

The question caught him off guard, “For what?”

“Children. Of your own I mean.”

An immediate response came to mind, one of the many he’d perfected over the years. ‘I have enough children to handle already.’  But it rang false as it had for years and he couldn’t bring himself to lie to Erik.

“For ages actually,” he gave a self deprecating laugh. “It just didn’t seem possible.” He fell silent for a long moment, lost in thought.

Erik tried to think of something to say. He didn’t know the full extent of Charles’ injury. Had he been unable to…? But he’d never ask. Unfortunately he’d been thinking rather loudly and the telepath gave a deep sigh.

“No, I wasn’t _unable_. I was just never capable of attracting and keeping a girlfriend to turn into a wife. Also the specialist told me my sperm count was low so.” He shrugged and blushed lightly at the subject matter.

“Well, that’s likely fixed now too,” Erik said thoughtfully.

Charles nodded, “Yes, I’d wondered about that but I haven’t had the nerve to have it checked again. Lord knows if it was even caused by the ~ _bullet_ ~…my injury. Maybe I’m just the opposite of you and unlucky in that way.” He tried to say it lightly but the desire in his heart was clear.

“I’m sure that’s not the case, besides you have Moira back, that could work out.” He offered half heartedly.

Charles grimaced slightly and took his turn at the board in lieu of a response. Erik perked up slightly. Trouble in paradise? He shook off the quiet observation. Surely he wouldn’t wish that on his friend.

“Something wrong?”

Charles sighed deeply, “Yes and no. Things are going well. But there’s no real _spark_ , I don’t know, maybe my hopes were too high. Things are fine.” He said like he was trying to make it true by force of will.

Erik cocked his head to one side and watched the telepath closely. “Your hopes weren’t too high,” he said softly. Charles deserved the best, real love with a real spark. “Maybe you just need more time.” ~ _Or maybe she isn’t the one_ ~ he didn’t say aloud.

“Maybe. I think we could work but…” he faded out with a distant expression on his face, lost in thought.

“But what?” Erik’s heart was racing but he couldn’t say why. Charles answer seemed like the most important thing he’d ever hear.

“I guess I just know how her husband felt. There’s no competition with her dedication to her job. And she has a son already so kids have already been checked off for her.” He finished quietly.

Erik felt a myriad of things at this confession, anger towards Moira for not seeing what she had right in front of her. Exasperation with Charles for even considering settling, and most troubling, relief that he wouldn’t be losing his friend to soon to someone else. To Moira in particular.

He chose not to dwell on that.

“May I offer my advice?” Charles agreed with an inquisitive gaze. “It sounds like you want different things, and you _are_ happy here with your borrowed kids. There are options you know, adoption, and surrogacy. Don’t give up hope, Charles there are many ways to make a family.” He said earnestly.

That earned him a kind smile that warmed his heart. “Thank you Erik, you’re right of course. I’m not so old yet in spite of this,” he ran a hand over his smooth head with a chuckle before settling more comfortably into his seat and gracing Erik with an openly fond look. “I know you think you’ve changed, but _this_. This is who I always saw when I was with you,” he said softly.

Erik was blown away by the affection and regard he found in the other man’s eyes. They held gazes for a long, deeply charged moment before breaking away to focus on their game once more.

 _~Thank you_ ~ he said moved beyond words. ~ _I had a good teacher_ ~

~~

Nina loved her Papa more than anyone else in the world. She knew he worried about her, she could feel it each time he put her to bed or gave her random kisses throughout the day.

She didn’t like his worrying so she didn’t like to tell him how much she missed her mother. She didn’t have nightmares about it like he asked sometimes, but she did cry.

Jean was always able to find her when she was most upset and would simply hold her close and let her cry and talk about mama until she felt better. Jean was her favorite.

Ororo was nice too; her parents were both dead, so she was great to talk to about her feelings, Mr. Charles had suggested it and it really did help. She was happy to see the shift in Ororo’s mood after they spent time together as well. Also she was great at braiding and had given Nina six thick cornrows that kept her head cool in the sticky summer heat. Ororo was almost her favorite.

Nina especially knew how her Papa worried that she’d be jealous of his older kids but she wasn’t. They were fun and spoiled her but she was still _his top priority_ as Mr. Charles had said. So maybe that’s why she didn’t mind.

Right now she was sitting in a tree watching baby birds hatch but also feeling what her papa felt. He was happy, not like when they were still at home and mama was there. But happier than he had been since the bad day in the woods.

It was the happiest he ever was when he wasn’t with Nina, but even then it was a different kind of feeling. One he cut off when he noticed it. It was a happiness that made him feel selfish and guilty but she couldn’t tell why.

The feeling only came when he was with Mr. Charles, especially when they were alone. Jean agreed but told her it would be their secret because sometimes people got embarrassed when you knew their feelings.

That was strange to her, but she stayed quiet about it, she was just happy that her papa was feeling better. She glanced up from the minute shifting of the pale, speckled eggs resting in the nest as her papa and Mr. Charles made their way past the tree stand and towards the garden. Her papa caught her eye and waved, then busied himself distracting Mr. Charles from worrying  about her falling.

“She grew up with trees like you did, my friend. Maybe you should let her teach you to climb again,” his mood was bright and soothing as they continued on their way. Mr. Charles pretending to be more upset than he really was at the comment. He was never upset at all when papa was nearby.

“And Pietro can help you run; it will be a Lehnsherr academy within the academy,” he laughed. His real laugh. Nina snapped her head up at the sound, she felt like she hadn’t heard it in so long. The sound made Mr. Charles so happy he almost cried, but he hid that from papa.

She ducked deeper into the greenage of the tree, not wanting to distract him from his growing joy.

When he saw her, sometimes his mood shifted and he’d pull away from that feeling he only got from Mr. Charles. Jean had blushed and refused to tell her why. She would only say that she looked very like her mama and that was a wonderful thing.

Nina didn’t see what one thing had to do with the other, but she accepted the compliment nonetheless.

The motion within the nest caught her attention again but not before she watched them head into the garden, moving closer with each step until their shoulders brushed. They were like magnets, opposite sides pulling together, but they wanted to be like same sides pushing apart. She just couldn’t figure why.

Jean said she’d understand when she was older. Nina was happy to focus on animals, who made much more sense and didn’t try to push against their instincts. Adults could be so strange about some things, she checked in her bunny who was playing at the bottom of the tree just fine and settled in to wait for her new friends to come into the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! Every time I log in to see the hits I'm astounded! You're the best!! XOXO! Questions? Typos? Concerns? Leave a comment! I do my best to answer them all!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wanda is introduced! Erik and Charles have some realizations! Family bonding time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture Wanda as the lovely Bryce Dallas Howard  
> http://speakerdata.s3.amazonaws.com/photo/image/804813/936full-bryce-dallas-howard.jpg

Erik was a ball of nerves and confusion, he was sure he was giving Charles and Jean a migraine with his fretting but it wasn’t everyday a man met his daughter for the first time.

He remembered Magda telling him she was expecting. Remembered the first time he felt Nina kick, the first time he saw her, held her.

He thought back to his sterile cell beneath the Pentagon, seeing the note on his tray and looking up to find a young man with silver hair in a too large guards uniform staring down at him.

Peter had saved his life twice before Erik ever knew he was his son.

Wanda, his daughter, his eldest child. What if she hated him?

~ _Be calm my friend, I’m sure she’s as eager to meet you as you are to meet her_ ~ Charles said softly into his mind. He was keeping Nina busy with a massive thousand piece puzzle he’d spread on the floor of his main study. She liked it in there, she liked Charles. A fact that made Erik feel a warm contentment grow beneath his breastbone. He was doing right by her, right by Magda whose only crime had been loving him.

He took a breath and tried to take Charles’ kind words to heart. Who would know better than a telepath?

Wanda seemed pleasant enough. They’d briefly spoken on the phone about her plan to come and stay at the mansion for a week after summer break started at the mansion and for the district where she worked.

He was delighted to learn that she was a music teacher and had majored in piano. His father had played and the thought of that talent continuing in his family line pleased him more than he could say.

~ _They’re nearly here_ ~ Charles said softly into his mind, causing him to stop pacing the foyer and wait as calmly as possible at the front door.

Then he was staring at his children, his twins who looked nothing alike. Wanda was tall and slender with pale skin and dark auburn hair. She had his eyes and his cheekbones and his lips, though they were fuller on her the shape was the same. It was odd to have one of his children take after him so much when the other two did not.

Wanda seemed taken aback by the similarities between them as well. She recovered first and gave him a bright smile. “Hello.”

It was odd to see his smile stretching another’s face. He’d always known people found it off putting but seeing it on her made it beautiful.

“Hello, Wanda. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said as calmly as possible taking her offered hand in a brief clasp.

“Thank you, I’m sorry it took me so long to come visit. I’m not good in new situations,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“No, I understand. This is strange, I’m just happy to have the chance to get to know you,” he said honestly, trying not to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was.

“Me too!” she agreed with another smile as she glanced at her brother who was leaning against the wall looking bored out of his mind.

“I remember seeing you on T.V. and Peter telling me you were the guy he broke out of prison. Even then he thought you were our dad,” she said nervously.

Erik grimaced at the realization that the first memory she had of him was a violent public assassination attempt. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” He said awkwardly.

She seemed embarrassed by the reference as well.“No, its… fine. I was really impressed with your control of your powers. That’s actually why I thought you _weren’t_ our dad. I mean, Peter’s got his on lock but mine are all over the place,” she gave a self conscious shrug.

He frowned at her self-deprecating tone.

“Don’t be like that Wanda, just relax and I’ll go get your stuff, once you’re calm we can go meet Nina, she’s great,” Peter cut in and was gone again before his last word faded.

Erik quirked a brow at his retreat and they shared a laugh once they realized they’d done it at the same time.

“I-”

“Did-”

They stopped short as they spoke at the same time. “I’m sorry you go ahead,” Erik said.

“No, no, please what were you saying?”

“Your powers? What are they? Peter was vague,” he asked curiously, hoping to get her to relax and open up a bit.

She gave a soft chuckle, “Would you believe I don’t know?” she laughed at the look on his face. “I can affect reality, but I can’t really control it, it works through me for the most part.”

Erik was confused and he was sure his face showed it. “Ah. Is that why you need to relax?”

She gave a self conscious but charming laugh, “Yes! When I get worked up its…worse.”

“So you teach children? How does that help?” He teased, hoping to make her smile again. It did.

“I like it; it’s relaxing and easy, and fun for me. Better than the nerves I’d get at a competition or in a concert hall.” She shuddered dramatically for effect.

“I bet you won all the competitions,” Erik said loyally.

She turned thoughtful at that, “I’ll never know will I? Was it my playing or my power that won the judges over?”

He hadn’t thought of that. How odd it must be to not know how your power was shaping reality.

“Don’t worry, I have much better control than when we were kids, you don’t have to worry about your daughter around me,” she hurried to assure him, misreading the expression on his face.

“You are my daughter and I’m not worried to have you around Nina. Just relax and we’ll go up to see her once your brother gets back.”

She gave him a bemused look, “He _is_ back, he’s done setting up my room and everything.”

Erik rolled his eyes, “I need to put a tracker on him. How did you know where he was?”

She shrugged, abashed, “I never know if it’s my powers or because we’re twins but he can never sneak up on me.”

Charles would have a field day with this he thought wryly. He gently ushered Wanda towards the study where Nina was waiting, nerves making a comeback even as he kept up a steady stream of small talk to help her relax.

Nina had been fine with gaining a brother, but how would she react to not being his only daughter anymore? He took comfort from the warm presence of Charles steady against his mind. There was only one way to find out.

~~

Erik was amazed at how good Wanda was with Nina. She was a natural, though he supposed her teaching career had something to do with that.

Nina had run to him immediately and clung to his arm, peering out at Wanda almost distrustfully. Charles was deeply amused by this though you wouldn’t know it to look at him unless you knew him very well.

He ignored his friend in favor of introducing his daughters to one another.

“Nina, this is Wanda, Peter’s twin sister and your older sister as well. Wanda, this is Nina, my daughter,” he held her hand tightly and pulled her around to face her sister.

There was a brief silence as the girls took each other in before Wanda bent at the waist, long, auburn hair tumbling in thick curls over her slender shoulders as she spoke to Nina at her level.

She was beautiful he noted with pride. She looked like him, like his mother and hers mixed together. He glanced over at Charles to share his delight only to catch an odd expression on the telepaths face.

He couldn’t read it and Charles wasn’t projecting, wasn’t in his mind at all. It was strange to say the least.

“Hello, Nina I’m very glad to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you from Peter. I hope you don’t mind sharing him with me. He’s a lot of brother for one girl to handle.”

Erik quirked an eyebrow at that. She was clever, circumventing how possessive Nina would feel being his only daughter.

His little one softened imperceptibly and gave a shy nod, “I like him.”

“Me too,” Wanda said conspiratorially, “He’s my favorite brother.”

Nina laughed at that, “Silly! He’s your only brother!”

“Easiest race he ever had to win!” Wanda insisted, causing Nina to laugh again and let go of Erik’s hand to take a step closer.

“I brought you something from Chicago, have you ever been?”

“No, is it very far away?”

“Not for us,” she said with a wink.

“Hey, don’t tell Nina I’m her personal taxi service!” Peter interjected appearing from nowhere to stand in their midst and hold a high five just out of Nina’s reach.

Wanda laughed brightly, “Then what do we keep you around for?”

Peter huffed a breath, “You mentioned a gift?”

“ _For Nina_ you ingrate, it’s not every day I get such a delightful younger sibling,” she teased as Peter mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘five minutes’

“Yes, five minutes older, not always the fastest are you?”

Nina loved their byplay and looked back and forth between them like she was watching volleys at a tennis match.

Erik for his part fell back to stand at Charles’s side and watch his children from afar.

“What did you bring me?” Nina cut in softly.

Wanda turned to her with a bright smile and reached into her purse to pull out a small glass ball that sparkled like translucent crystal in the sunlit study. Nina looked at it excitedly and gave Wanda her hand when prompted.

“Think of your favorite memory,” she said with a slight frown. Nina hesitated for a moment then nodded.

“Alright, hold it in your mind,” Wanda said softly. Suddenly, pink sparks burst around them before vanishing in an instant. Erik leapt to his feet from where he’d been leaning next to Charles against the leather sofa, mind whirring with concern about their well being.

“Did it work?” Peter asked immediately, sounding cautiously hopeful, as though he was used to her attempts failing but didn’t want to rub it in if it had.

“I think so, Nina?” Wanda handed her the ball and waited a moment as the younger girl stared into it intently. Erik approached slowly, not wanting to intrude on the moment, but unsure of what was going on.

Then Nina was sniffling and crying and wrapping her arms around Wanda’s waist and pressing her face into her belly and rumpling her light sundress in the process.

Wanda simply smiled and ran her fingers through Nina’s hair, not minding the snotty mess that was likely being made of her clothes.

Erik was baffled; the twins shot each other a thumbs up over Nina’s head.

“Nina darling? Are you alright?” he asked, placing his hand on her narrow shoulders, struck by how much she’d grown and by how small she was at the same time.

“Yes papa, look,” she sniffled turning to face him and pulling him down to her level to gaze into the orb. He was stunned to see a brief memory play out. Nina was sitting at the dresser in his and Magda’s room back at their house in Poland. Magda stood behind her in the mirror brushing her hair and promising to take her to get her ears pierced when she turned ten and not a day sooner.

It was a matter of seconds. It was eternity. He turned his tearful gaze to Wanda who’d stepped back and was self consciously tugging at her dress. Peter had a companionable arm thrown over her shoulders and was watching them with a sense of pride.

“Thank you for this,” Erik said softly, earning a tremulous smile for his trouble.

“It’s nothing, I wanted to do something for her,” she shrugged.

“It’s amazing, you’re amazing. Thank you,” he insisted watching the memory once more before Nina thanked Wanda and ran to show an enraptured Charles.

Erik, surrounded by his family, felt at peace.

~~

Erik watched Charles and Wanda walk past the library window, enjoying the mid morning warmth as they roamed the grounds.

He was listening to Nina practicing reading aloud in English; she wanted to be prepared for the start of school so she’d be able to take classes with other children her age.

She was doing well and hadn’t noticed his momentary lapse. He turned back to her as she stumbled over a four syllable word that she hadn’t seen before.

Once he’d explained the meaning and usage she moved on to the next line but his attention was drawn again to the thought of Charles and Wanda. They looked good together. Not _together_ of course but…it was hard to explain. He liked how well Charles got along with his children. He liked how well his children got along with Charles. But seeing Nina and Peter with the other man didn’t give him that odd feeling in his chest.

Everyone had remarked on how alike he and Wanda were in appearance. And she and Charles looked good together. Did that mean that he and Charles looked good together? What would it matter if they did? Why was he thinking this again?

And why was Charles spending so much time with Wanda? She was young and beautiful but he wouldn’t betray Erik by making a pass at her, nor would he lead her on if she was interested in him.

But why would it feel like a betrayal? They were consenting adults and he hadn’t raised her. And he’d admittedly felt similar about the long absent Moira.

Charles had explained that she was on an extended assignment and that they’d put things on hold until she made it back and had some leave.

Erik found it hard not to despise her when she left Charles alone in a state of relationship limbo. He knew he should encourage his friend to seek out other companionship, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He’d known many women in his life and he couldn’t think of one who was good enough for Charles. His heart twinged as he thought of Magda. She would have known what to do, what to say, how to comfort Charles.

He missed her like a phantom limb; she’d been his better half. His Charles he’d often thought playfully when they first met, thought he’d never said it aloud. How odd to suddenly remember that he used to do that. Magda had been his Charles. So then what did that make Charles?

~~

Nina ran into the mansion and leapt into her father’s arms, planting a kiss on his stubbled cheek as he caught her up close to his chest.

“Hi papa!” she cheered excitedly, sweaty and sticky from her outing.

“Hello darling, did Mr. Charles get you an ice cream?” he asked suspiciously. She nodded vigorously as if he couldn’t tell from her unusually hyperactive state.

Charles walked in behind her with an unrepentant grin, “I had one myself. We had a lovely day, didn’t we Nina?”

“Yes! It was great fun; we went to a mall papa! It was lots of stores all in one big store!”

He smiled as he set her back down, listening to her ramble on. He glanced at Charles who was watching them interact with a soft smile on his face.

“And then the lady said I looked just like my papa and I thought that was silly because you weren’t even there!” Nina giggled at the ice cream vendor’s observation.

Erik frowned and shot a look at Charles who was self consciously rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as he did when he was nervous. He spoke up, “I checked, she simply thought Nina was mine. The eyes I think.” He equivocated.

Nina dashed from the room in a blink, no doubt looking for her bunny who she’d left with Wanda for safe keeping.

“Charles,” Erik began.

“I’m sorry my friend, I should have corrected her but it was just easier not to. And it didn’t bother Nina, she found it quite funny,” Charles was blushing now, cheeks lit with a rosy glow. ~ _It was nice_ ~

And he felt guilty for liking it; he was practically radiating self loathing. Erik was at a loss for how to comfort his friend knowing what he knew about how badly Charles wanted a child of his own, it was a complicated situation.

What could he say? The woman though Nina was Charles’ daughter, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Then it hit him.

In that moment he felt like a fool, he was dumbstruck, how could he not have noticed how alike Charles and Nina were in appearance? Hair color, eye color, shape of the face. It was uncanny; she looked like his child. She looked exactly like her mother.

His mind was blank as it all came together in his head. Magda looked like Charles. That meant something, of course it did, how could it not?

But what?

He was still at a loss for words to offer his embarrassed friend.

“Forgive me, Erik. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Charles offered sincerely.

“You didn’t, its fine its no trouble.” Erik said absently, aware that Charles was watching him with wary concern.“Really it’s fine, I should go find Nina, get her cleaned up- she was a sticky mess.”

Charles relaxed a bit that that, “I know, tell it to the interior of my car.”

Erik offered him a small commiserating smile before quitting the room but he didn’t quite meet his eyes, something was still wrong.

Charles tried not to hate himself too much but it was hard. He’d been so pleased that Erik trusted him (and his driving) enough to take Nina on an outing. Then he’d ruined it by not paying attention to what the vendor had been saying to Nina until it was too late, and now this.

He’d been pleasantly flattered that the woman thought such a lovely little girl was his, but Erik had clearly been offended. Perhaps he thought Charles was trying to take Magda’s place in their lives? Perhaps he resented him for the intrusion.

Charles had valiantly resisted reading his thoughts on the matter, though Erik's mind had been a whirlwind of activity.

He grimaced and smoothed a hand over his bare skull. He’d hoped to be able to hide his feelings from Erik for a bit longer but he wasn’t sure that was possible anymore.

He’d always had an attraction to certain men, though he’d never acted on it and it had always been a purely aesthetic appreciation. He wasn’t sure when, but that line had been crossed of late by Erik no less.

Just his luck to fall into-infatuation? With his dearest friend.

He’d felt like an idiot for not realizing what it was until the day Wanda walked into the study looking like a dream. She was stunning, and she looked like Erik. It was the first thing he noticed, how could he not? He was handsome, she was gorgeous, and he preferred Erik. Charles could see how beautiful she was but he felt no masculine appreciation for her noticeable attributes. In regards to Erik on the other hand…

When he looked at Wanda, he could only see a variation of Erik’s perfection. He’d carefully locked the realization that he was deeply attracted to his best friend away to examine later. But later had never came, he simply didn’t have the nerve. And now this.

He thought if putting distance between them, though Erik would likely do that himself after this fiasco.

He kicked the doorjamb in frustration as he made his way to his office. Perhaps he could call Raven down for a chat. She’d tease him but still, he needed advice and she knew both of them. He’d only just gotten his family back and he couldn’t stand to lose them again because of his inconvenient emotions.

He sank down behind his desk with a sigh. To think the day had started out so well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support! We'll get to actual Cherik fluff soon I promise!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cherik Fluff! Feelings are discussed! Set up for future reveals!!

Charles was trying not to panic. Charles was failing in this endeavor.

He was waiting in the study for Erik to arrive for their evening chess game. They hadn’t met for a few days and he was feeling the strain between them. The other occupants of the house had clearly noticed something was amiss and a few had discreetly asked him if something was wrong.

 _Yes!_ He wanted to scream. _Of course there’s something wrong! I’m in love with my best friend! I’m in love with a **man**!_

But that would be over share and likely highly traumatic for the young people under his care. He didn’t want to have to deal with that on top of everything else.

Besides, he didn’t want to embarrass Erik with a public declaration especially since it seemed that his feelings weren’t returned. He didn’t think he could live with the pity he’d be bombarded with from all sides.

No, it was better if they handled this privately, maturely, sensibly he told himself firmly. Then he felt Erik coming down the hall and wanted nothing more than to hide his presence from the other man and avoid this conversation for the rest of his life if possible.

Erik knocked lightly on the door before stepping in. He was uncharacteristically quiet as he had been for the past few days.

He shot Charles a slightly anxious smile and stood across the room from him.

“Erik.”

“Charles, thank you for making time this evening.” He said stiffly.

Charles felt his cheeks heat at the mention of how ‘busy’ he’d been over the past few days. Far too busy to spend any time alone with Erik at any rate. “Ah, yes well, even in summer there are still things to prepare for the coming year.” He said lightly.

“I’m sure there are.”

They fell into an awkward silence, neither wanting to be the one to address the elephant in the room.

“Nina is worried about us,” Erik finally said to break the tension.

Charles crinkled his brow in concern, “Why? What’s the matter?”

“She just asked if you were alright and if I was alright and…” here he hesitated and paced to the window to look out over the twilit grounds before working up the nerve to continue. “…why we are trying so hard not to like each other.”

Charles was at a loss for words.

Erik turned to face him once more, a serious mien painted on his face, “Are you trying not to like me, Charles? Have I ruined what we had? Do I disgust you?”

“My friend, I’m so sorry. I never meant to upset Nina. Or to avoid you. Apparently I have failed at both, but I must confess I don’t understand what you mean. What do you believe you’ve ruined? What have you done that would disgust me?” he asked, genuinely confused.

Erik only seemed to grow more frustrated as he spoke, pacing to the fireplace then back to the window until he was done speaking. “Charles, after the battle I told you I trust you with my mind, haven’t you looked to see?” he demanded.

Charles looked perplexed, “No my friend, your thoughts have been your own. You were clearly thinking heavily about something important but I don’t know what. I was attempting to afford you privacy.”

“I thought you knew, I thought that’s why you’ve been avoiding me. Because of…the other day.” He said, clearly referencing the aftermath of Charles and Nina’s outing.

“I thought that’s why _you’ve_ been avoiding _me_. I never meant to make you uncomfortable. I” he paused for breath, “I’m not trying to take Magda’s place.” He finished in a rush. “I care about you and Nina and if I crossed a line just tell me and I’ll step back.”

Erik was dumbfounded, “Charles. Magda took _your_ place.”

“ _What?_ ”

He nodded, “she was my moral compass, my support, my best friend. But before her there was you. The other day I finally admitted that to myself, Nina looks so much like you even strangers can see it. You’ve seen pictures of Magda. She could’ve been your twin. _That’s_ what I’ve been thinking on. I thought you knew. I thought…you were too kind to reject me outright and were trying to find the right way to do it.”

“No my friend. Not at all, you just seemed so uncomfortable around me that I simply gave you the space to work out how you felt about me. About everything.” Charles slowly closed the distance between them as he spoke, giving Erik plenty of time to move away if he so chose. He didn’t. He stood perfectly still, framed by the window, leaning slightly against the sill.

Charles spoke again, “You came to meet me tonight.”

“You asked me to.”

“And you thought I was going to reject you? Your friendship? Because I remind you of your wife?” he asked softly.

Erik shook his head at his words even as he spoke them, “No, because of how I feel when I’m with you. Because of how I feel when I’m not with you. It’s not _friendship_ that’s been on my mind, Charles. And I know you and Moira-”

Charles shushed him with a sigh. “You and I both know Moira was a dream.” He felt Erik relax at his words and realized the other man had been worried, possibly even jealous at the prospect of Charles developing a relationship with her.

“These past days our thoughts have followed similar paths, my friend. I must admit I’ve never felt this way about a man before. But then again, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Having you back these past few weeks has shown me how much I missed you while you were gone.”

“Charles.”

He shook his head slightly, “I know my timing is terrible. Your life has been in upheaval for months and now I’m telling you all this.” He took a half step back out of the close space they’d been sharing but Erik caught him loosely by one wrist and stopped his exit.

“Charles, I’m telling you all this as well! Don’t pull away out of some misplaced sense of guilt. We’ve wasted so much of our lives together apart.” He searched the other man’s eyes with bright intensity, before leaning in slowly to close the small gap between them, clearly telegraphing a kiss. His heart raced as Charles’s bright blue eyes flickered between his eyes and his lips without pulling away.

Their lips met softly, sweetly with such slight pressure that it could barely qualify as a kiss.

They stayed pressed together, breathing the same air as their arms came around each other to close their embrace.

 _~I love you~_ the words meant more than the bond between friends, than the bond between brothers. It was a feeling that encompassed all meanings of the word, a passion that consumed them, filling their hearts to overflowing.

Entirely open to one another, their souls alight with joy, they fell into an emotional embrace, locked together physically and mentally they shared the years they’d spent apart, pouring their whole selves into this newly formed connection. The strongest that Charles had ever felt, even deeper than the mark En Sabah Nur had gouged in his mind.

By the time they opened their eyes; early morning sunlight filled the study, rousing them from their embrace on the chaise in front of the bay window.

“Erik.”

“Charles.”

He dipped his head for a second kiss and was met with all the eager enthusiasm new love could offer.

“How did I live without you?” Charles wondered aloud, brushing his fingers through the taller mans hair.

“You were never without me, and you never will be again.” Erik murmured, curling further around the telepath and dipping his head to claim his lips again.

He felt the pulse of delight that filled Charles at his words. No one stayed, no one ever had, but he had no fear of the future. Erik was humbled by Charles’ acceptance of his word as his bond.

“You believe me?” he asked in an awed whisper.

“Of course I do, without trust there is no love and you love me. I feel it like a second heartbeat.” He said quietly, happily before his eyes went distant for a moment.

“The kids are stirring, you’d best be there when Nina wakes and we’d better get changed for the day,” he said, making no move to stir from his position on the lounge.

Erik grinned unrepentantly, “What? Isn’t this a school? You should teach the kids what a walk of shame is.” He pressed light kisses up Charles’ jaw as the other man blushed a pale pink at what anyone who saw them emerging from the library at first light in last night’s rumpled clothes would think they’d been up to.

“It’s not that kind of school Erik,” he chided playfully.

“How about I agree to work for you if you let me teach family life?” he teased, nipping at Charles’ well kissed lips.

“How about I rescind that offer of a job to prevent you from traumatizing the kids for life?” he chuckled in response.

Erik stole one more kiss before rising from his reclining position and offering a hand up to his love.

His love. His other half. His Charles.

 _~I can hear you, you know?~_ Charles sent bashfully.

_~I know~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! In future Chapters expect to see more family bonding with the kids! And we'll soon find out who the fourth horseman was since it wasn't Erik! XOXO Comments are love!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trip to the Zoo! Adventures ensue! A bit of Private time for Cherik! Mostly sibling bonding!! I'm not sure who to feel sorry for in this situation...

Wanda fidgeted slightly before speaking, “Charles, Jean and I have been talking and we both noticed there’s something off about your-”

“Not now Wanda! You’re gonna ruin the trip!” Peter cut her off impatiently as he appeared out of nowhere to interrupt her sentence.

She shot him a glare that quickly turned to a look of confusion, “This is important Peter! Wait, what trip?”

“I told you I promised to take Nina to the zoo?”

“Oh! Are you finally going? That’ll fun! Take lots of pictures.” She said with a smile before turning back to Charles who was looking on in amusement.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have fun, right? But Erik won’t let us go without you! He’s being such a tool about it!”

She crinkled her brow in confusion, “You can’t go without me? Why?”

“He said we needed ‘someone with good sense who could keep us both in check’” Peter huffed in irritation.

“You both being you and Nina?” she laughed brightly causing Peter to sulk and refuse to answer her question. “Alright, no harm done, I can take my kid siblings to the zoo!”

“I hate you.”

“If you hate me so much then why not ask someone else with sense to come along?” She demanded playfully as she rose from the bench she was sharing with Charles. Once again he pouted and declined to answer.

She screwed up her face and tilted her head to one side, mentally sorting him out, “Oh! HAHA! Are the rest of the sensible ones younger than you? Oh Peter, only you.” She said fondly, tousling his white hair until he flinched away.

“Enough of this, are we gonna go or what? Nina’s getting impatient,” he demanded shortly.

“Yes, because of the three of us _Nina_ is the impatient one,” Wanda retorted dryly before turning back to Charles who was trying and failing to conceal his laughter. “I’m sorry to cut this short, can we finish this later?”

“Of course, Wanda, remember what we’ve been practicing and you’ll be fine,” he said with a smile. They were gone before he finished speaking.

He made his way back to the house from Wanda’s favorite place in the rose garden where they practiced meditation together each morning. She was a kind girl, sweet tempered and mild mannered. Though she had to be. Much like himself and Jean, if her powers got out of hand, she could do untold damage.

He was pleased to see her getting on so well with the younger woman. Scott was pleased to see it too but Charles tried to steer clear of those thoughts. Apparently his newest student had a thing for redheads. Charles had made the executive decision not to reveal this information to Erik for the sake of peace and privacy in their home.

He smiled anew at the thought. With Erik and Raven back it truly felt like home again. He jogged up the steps, relishing the flex and pull of his muscles as he ascended the slope, home but better he decided as he walked in on Kurt and Peter betting on who would get them to the Zoo faster.

Erik looked on in amusement, his mind flaring with delight and twining more tightly with Charles’ as he came into view. Wanda and Nina flicked a glance between the two of them, heads tilted at the same angle though neither said anything. It was uncanny.

“Peter can take Wanda, Kurt can take Nina, you’ll be home by six for dinner. Hungry for dinner.” Erik said shortly, not taking his eyes off of Peter the entire time he was speaking.

“Don’t sweat it man, I’m always hungry.”

“I meant Nina. Also Kurt. They’re still growing and need a proper meal.”

“I-”

“Zoo!” Nina cut Peter off sharply, practically vibrating out of her skin with excitement. He sighed, realizing the battle was lost he wrapped an arm around Wanda as Nina climbed on to Kurt piggy back style with assistance from his tail.

“Ready?” asked Peter.

“Ready.” Said Kurt.

“Go.” Said Erik.

In less than a moment, he and his boyfriend were standing alone in the foyer.

“You’re not worried about them?” Charles asked, as he stepped in close to the taller man and slipped an arm around his slender waist.

“I’m more worried about the state of New York now that they’re loose in it,” Erik laughed softly, slinging an arm over Charles’s shoulder to pull him close and press a kiss to his temple.

“So, kids are gone. No X-men training for the day. What can we get up to all by ourselves?” Charles asked with studied nonchalance.

They shared a heated look for a split second before dashing for the stairs giggling like teenagers.

~~

Peter hated ties. It was no way to end a competition. But apparently he had to accept the fact that he and Kurt had arrived with seconds of each other.

“Too close to call’ According to his least favorite sister.

“You only have two sisters Peter.”

“And Nina is winning by a _long shot_ at this point,” he groused playfully, ducking away as she reached for his hair again.

Kurt stood nearby with Nina on his shoulders, clutching his hair in both her fists, looking around in total concentration. For his part Kurt seemed overwhelmed by the size of the crowd and the sheer length of the animal directory.

They had agreed to meet in the very center of the zoo, Jean having been kind enough to put the location in Kurt’s mind for ease of access.

All the animals in the surrounding enclosures were steadily making their way to the very edges of their cages, pressed as close as they could get to Nina.

It was noticeable. It was obvious. It was causing a stir.

For the first time Peter seriously wondered why Erik had agreed to this trip but refused to come along. His stomach sank as Wanda gasped aloud just seconds before a group of chimps swung purposefully towards them on a wire strung from the entrance of the zoo to the primate house.

Nina perked up considerably as the sound of an elephant trumpeting echoed through the zoo.

“Do elephants usually all do that at the same time?” Wanda asked shakily.

More than one elephant. That would explain why it was so loud he thought pragmatically as he turned to face his once again favorite sister grimly, “I think Erik set us up.”

“You don’t say,” she hissed, muttering something about being an only child.

“Too late for that, let’s attend to the queen of the animals in her kingdom,” he chuckled.

“Alright guys, change of plans! Huddle!” Wanda called them all over into a small circle arms around each other, Nina’s eyes bright with excitement. “There’s only one way we’re making it through this trip…” She began fatefully. Thankful for a childhood with her crazy klepto brother that made her plan contingencies for every situation even before their mutations had manifested.

This may be her greatest hit yet. Only time would tell.

~~

Charles and Erik were deep into a mind meld, heavy make out session when Charles jerked away with a laugh.

Erik looked affronted. As affronted as he could look with his shirt off lying amid tousled bed linens.

“Sending the kids to the zoo alone may not have been the best idea.”

Erik groaned and fell back onto the sheet dramatically, “They’re conspiring to never get me laid again. How is this thanks for giving them life?”

Charles laughed at that, “Maybe they don’t want any more siblings,” he volunteered jokingly as he slid off the bed and began to re dress himself.

Erik caught his wrist before he could do more than pull on the jeans he’d discarded on their mad rush to the bed. “They’ll have to be disappointed, then.” He pulled Charles in for another kiss.

~ _???~_

_~We’re gonna find a way to have a kid. I know you want one, and you’re far more qualified to be a parent than anyone else I can think of~_

Charles sank onto the bed slowly, staring at the other man in shock. Their consciousness still wrapped into one, he could feel Erik’s sincerity as though it was his own.

 _~Thank you my friend~_ he sent, eyes glimmering with unshed tears. His heart in his throat.

 _~Anything for my love~_ Erik pressed him onto his back and climbed on top of him, running a hand over his left thigh, moving towards more interesting things until Charles jerked beneath him to cries of, “Erik! _CHARLES!!_ PAPA!!Professor!! _ERIK!!_ ” echoing through the mansion.

They jumped apart as thought jolted by electricity and scrambled to get decently covered before heading downstairs at full tilt if only to prevent the kids from coming up to find them.

The stopped at the banister overlooking the foyer where the four adventurers were standing looked flushed, bedraggled, and covered in what appeared to be soot with hay sticking haphazardly out of Wanda’s hair.

She gave Erik a look that reminded him very much of her mother when she was upset. That didn’t stop him from laughing or Charles from joining in.

_~Are you sure you want kids?~_

_~Now more than ever~_ Charles assured him, stooping to catch Nina as she ran to him and leapt into his arms.

Erik pulled them close and kiss Nina on the forehead, trying to take in her excited stream of gibberish. They made their way back down the stairs as she filled them in on their time apart. They’d been gone for just over two hours and apparently she’d lived a week in that time. It was just as she'd feared, many of the animals at the zoo were unhappy.

He quirked a brow at her passionate defense of the animals. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight again until she was eighteen. He glanced at the twins who were arguing quietly but fervently, Wanda hiding something behind her back. They were 26. He frowned.

None of them were allowed out of his sight for the next thirty years.

“Does the zoo sell crowns?” Kurt cut into the excited chatter in confusion. It seemed like an odd non sequitur until Erik saw what Wanda was holding. It was a tiara laden with so many jewels there was barely any metal.

He opened his mouth to speak and was cut off by the shrill ring of the phone.

“Don’t answer it!” Peter yelped.

“It’s the cops!” Wanda shouted heated and sparkling pink.

“It’s the zoo!!” Nina gasped out a dramatic whisper.

“Seriously where did you get that?” Kurt seemed baffled at the presence of the likely priceless artifact Wanda and Peter were playing keep away with.

Charles grimaced at the scene. “I’m rethinking my idea to add field trips to next year’s school offerings.”

“Good idea,” Erik grumbled as he made his way to the phone, holding one hand up impatiently to silence the kids. Charles seemed impressed at how well it worked. He smirked at that, he loved impressing Charles even if it was simply scaring idiots into submission.

“Yes, hello? No, school is out for the summer. No, I’m sorry the students have returned to their homes. Hmm. Hypnotist?” he shot a frown at Nina as he said it, turning away as she sank deeper into Charles’ secure embrace.

He turned slowly to face Kurt with a raised eyebrow as the man on the other end of the line continued “No, a grey monkey kid? No, we don’t have one of those sorry. Alright you can tell me their names but…Janet, Jason, William, and Katrina?” he raised his eyebrows at that, Wanda blushed and refused to meet his gaze. He sighed and flicked his gaze to the boys who were suddenly innocent as doves.

“Well how could a jewelry display being knocked over have anything to do with an animal rebellion at your zoo?” he frowned at his son and might have actually bared his teeth at the young man. "... I certainly hope so, just as I hope this isn’t _mutant profiling_. No, it’s not _fine_ ; don’t call here again without some actual _proof!_ Even when school is in session there are more mutants in New York City proper than on our property! I suggest you leave us out of it and do your job!” He slammed the phone down and turned back to the culprits, not sure if he was more angry or exasperated.

“Wow, Erik! You’re so cool” Peter cheered.

“That was awesome!” Kurt agreed, looking very impressed.

He opened his mouth to set them straight only to have Wanda’s purse burst open in a flurry of rodents and reptiles. “Oh! I thought that would hold longer!” She flushed a deep red at the confused animals spilling through the zip in space time she’d created on a whim.

Erik gave up. He slammed his head against the wall twice before carefully stepping around the menagerie still pouring out of the small handbag. He ignored Kurt asking how she’d made him look grey instead of blue and Charles asking why they were using fake names. He pretended not to see Peter crowing Nina Queen of the Animals and promising to finish the job once the heat died down.

Looping his arm through Charles’ he simply pulled him along and made their way back to the bedroom and refused to leave for the rest of the day.

It was that or go back to being childless and he didn’t think Charles would approve of that option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the support! This Chapter was so fun to write! I hope you like it! Comments are love!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles and Nina bonding! Raven makes a confession! Cherik/Nina bonding!

Nina was walking through the new woods at the school with Mr. Charles. He knew his way around very well and simply said that he’d spent a lot of time there as a child and had even camped out in the deep woods sometimes. She felt a great rise of sadness when he said that and a lost look came over his face, like the one that her papa got when he talked about mama or his parents. She didn’t want to lose Mr. Charles to the memories so she reached for his hand and clasped it tight in hers.

He looked at her in surprise and gripped her hand firmly in response. She loved the strength of his moods. Whatever he was feeling, he was feeling fully, right now there was no place he’d rather be than here in the deep woods with Nina ‘meeting the neighbors’ as he’d put it. After a moment she agreed with him. This was the perfect place to be with perfect company.

She pulled Mr. Charles to a halt as a small herd of deer approached them eagerly, waiting to be petted. She liked how secure they felt on his property. Mr. Charles didn’t allow hunting and ‘discouraged poachers’ she knew he meant he used his powers to turn them away. They only had to fear their natural predators, as it should be.

“Mr. Charles?”

“Yes, dear?” he asked seemingly absent as he stroked a fauns ears but his attention was fully fixed on her. She liked knowing that.

“I like it here.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Nina. I’m happy to have you,” he said with a bright smile that lit up his mood like the sun.

She turned back to the deer to communicate with them for a moment which Mr. Charles patiently allowed without interrupting. She thought over his words and his happy mood as he said them. Her favorite thing about Mr. Charles was that as much as he loved her papa, he loved her too. It wasn’t like having her mama back but it was like…having another mama. Mr. Charles loved her the same way her friend Margot’s mother loved her. Margot was adopted and her mother thought of her as special because of it. She’d had three boys and wanted a little girl and then she found Margot and their family was complete. Margot loved telling that story.

Nina smiled and pushed the memory to Mr. Charles. He caught it immediately and watched it with a sheen of tears in his eyes.

“Nina…” he said softly.

She sent her feelings back as she felt the swell of his joy and understanding. He knelt next to her and pulled her into a tight embrace. They stayed that way for a long time; Nina nestled against his chest, surrounded by her new friends. He was right; there was no better place to be.

~~

Raven wasn’t jealous of Charles’ relationship with Erik per se. She _wasn’t_. She just wished her life could be half as easy. Though that probably wasn’t the right word for all they’d been through to get to where they were.

She sighed heavily, catching Hank’s attention where he was working at his computer nearby on some calculations she’d never understand in a millions years.

“Anything you want to share with the class?” He asked playfully, blue eyes sparkling.

She was blue today and had been since they’d resettled the school. The kids looked up to her as their ‘mutant and proud’ role model; it somehow felt wrong to hide her face, at least while on the property. Her mind flickered back to Kurt who’d gone to the mall in his true form on his first day in the states, then to the zoo with Erik’s hellions without any hesitation. Perhaps she’d done him some good even unintentionally. Or perhaps he was simply used to the stares having been raised in a circus.

She was their hero. She strongly suspected that she was his mother. She turned to Hank with a small frown. “Actually yes, can you tell who a kids parents are without like them raising them or an adoption paper trail?”

He looked surprised by the question but nodded almost immediately. “Yes, easily with a sample of each of their DNA I can run it through a centrifuge and-“

“I don’t need the details Hank, I just need your expertise and to know if you can still keep a secret?” she cut him off kindly.

Now he was looking concerned, “You know I can. I think Charles is avoiding our minds anyway, he seems to think he’ll see something he’d rather not.”

She was sure that if he wasn’t blue she’d be able to see his blush. Charles was safe unless a few bashful kisses would throw him off. She just wasn’t ready to give herself over to a relationship after everything that had happened, but Hank’s patience and familiarity were growing on her. She sighed again, irritated with herself. She felt like a teenager again in all the worst ways and spending so much time with the blue furred scientist was only making it worse.

“Raven?” he asked, moving to her side and placing a companionable hand on her shoulder.

“I think Kurt is my son,” she blurted out, a tear rolling down her cheek as she remembered leaving a little blue bundle behind at the monastery in eastern Europe. He’d been a lighter blue and bald and perfect…but with her and Azazel’s coloring… “I mean it may just be wishful thinking.” She leaned against Hank as he pulled her into a hug. She finally cried for the little boy she’d left behind, something she’d never allowed herself to do. To cry felt like regret, felt like a mistake when she could have kept her baby and come back to Hank and Charles and been a family.

So she kept going and hadn’t looked back until she heard about a blue teleporter being forced to fight to the death and she couldn’t take that risk. The risk that he was hers.

Hank simply held her and let her cry until she was done. He met her eyes with compassion and a soft smile, “Thank you for trusting me. I’ll get started on it right away, we’ll know in a few hours.”

She grasped his arm as he tried to move away; presumably to run tests on the blood samples he’d taken from each of the X-men to study their specific presentations of the X-gene.

“But what if it’s not him? What if he’s not my son?” she asked almost desperately. Suddenly terrified to know, wondering might be better than knowing he wasn’t hers.

Hank shook his head at her question and gently dislodged her fingers from his fur, “Then I guess we’ll just have to find your boy now that we know to look.”

She swallowed thickly at his calm acceptance of her life and the choices she’d made. He was a good man but then she’d always known that.

“Thank you Hank.”

He gave her a warm smile, “What are friends for?”

She’d nearly let herself forget.

~~

Erik was tucking Nina in that night, a few days after The Zoo Fiasco as he called it. Charles called it a Test Run Field Trip. Erik was unimpressed with his boyfriend’s optimism. Charles was amused by his boyfriend’s cynicism. Some things never changed.

Charles was standing just behind him, trying to pretend he wasn’t a nervous wreck, Erik knew if he could sense it, Nina could as well. He shared a knowing look with his youngest child and tucked her in snugly before leaning down to kiss her hair.

“Good night little one, have sweet dreams.”

She smiled up at him drowsily then turned to Charles who she’d asked to be there to read her a story before Erik sang to her. He’d obligingly begun Charlotte’s Web and she’d loved the first chapter.

Erik knew Charles was still worried about overstepping his welcome but he’d gone along with the evening as well as he could, though he was clearly out of his depth.

“Charles,” Erik prompted with a smile startling his lover out of the reverie he’d fallen into while watching them interact.

“Yes?”

“I need my goodnight kiss,” Nina said primly, though Erik wondered if she only spoke aloud for his benefit, she took to telepathy with natural ease that made him wonder if she might manifest a secondary mutation someday.

Charles looked gob smacked, for a telepath he was often knocked on his ass by the words of a child. He stepped forwards and placed a careful kiss on Nina’s baby soft cheek.

“Goodnight Nina,” he said, sounding a bit choked up.

Erik smiled at the sight of them, trying to commit the moment to memory.

“Goodnight papa. Goodnight Mr. Charles, goodnight baby,” she said matter of factly before snuggling into bed and promptly falling asleep.

They shared a confused look at her last words before Erik shrugged it off, he’d never understand much of what his children said and this was just another such instance.

He wrapped and arm around Charles’ slender waist and lead the other man quietly through the door connecting his room to Nina’s.

“Since you have the Lehnsherr seal of approval, would you care to stay the night?” he asked flirtatiously, since Charles had refused to spend a full night together in either of their rooms out of deference to Nina.

He looked spaced out and overwhelmed by the past few hours and Erik couldn’t blame him, “Charles?” he prodded gently.

He blinked owlishly the blushed, “As long as every things covered by the time she comes in, then I see no problem in that.”

They hadn’t progressed to full sex, neither of them having been with a man before they were taking the physical side of their relationship at a glacial pace, not that either man was complaining, they were simply figuring it out as they went along.

“Go ahead and put on your old man pajamas and meet me back here,” Erik teased another blush out of his fair lover.

Charles pressed a last kiss on him before rushing to his room to do just that, eager for the evening to begin even as Nina's words rang like a bell in his mind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love love love all of your comments you guys are the best and are totally guessing some of my plot points! I love it keep it up! Thanks so much for all the support! More to come soon!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mystique has news! Sweet Cherik moments! Nina likes keeping secrets! Awkward conversations! Bunny is up to no good!

“Kurt, I think I’m. No. Kurt, I _know_ I’m. I know this is... _Damn it_. Kurt.”

“Yes?”

Raven startled and turned to face the shy young teleporter with a gasp, “Kurt! I didn’t hear you arrive.”

He gave an awkward smile, “I came in the door. Charles said you wanted to see me?”

She gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile, “Yes, I did. I do, I have something I need to tell you.” There was a long pause following this proclamation as she hadn’t finished figuring out what to say before he’d arrived. Though she’d been trying for hours, days actually. Ever since Hank got the test back positive she’d been a bundle of nerves and anxiety.

That had been three days ago and Charles had finally asked her point blank what was wrong. She knew he was hurt by her answer; that she’d suffered so much alone when she could have come home at any time. He hid that hurt well but wouldn’t allow her to hide from her past any longer. So he’d sent her to the study and then he’d sent Kurt.

“Mystique?” he asked hesitantly after the silence had stretched uncomfortably.

“Yes?” She knew she was staring but he was so tall and handsome with his father’s hair. For the first time since she’d left him, she knew she was looking at her son. Suddenly the words came easily and she smiled, blinking tears out of her eyes.

“Kurt, please sit,” she sank down onto the leather sofa placed near the fireplace and waited for him to do the same before taking a deep breath and forging on. “What do you know about your parents?”

~~

Erik was a smug, infernal bastard. Not that Raven didn’t already know that but it didn’t need to be reinforced every single day of her life.

He was watching her smugly from across the dinner table, no doubt happy not to be the only one with secret bastard children running around she thought bitterly as she tore into a roll.

His secret bastard children had accepted him so easily; Kurt was so shy around her now she almost regretted telling him. Almost. He hadn’t even come down to dinner. He, Scott and Ororo had gone to dinner in town. Jean stayed behind to work on whatever she and Wanda were up to lately.

Charles was pretending to ignore her staring match with Erik and focused on having one of his own with Jean who had been quiet for the past few days, even in training. If Mystique hadn’t had so much on her plate she’d have attempted to take her aside for a check in.

Oh well, they weren’t called the R-men. She thought uncharitably as Charles narrowed his eyes then heaved an ‘I’m disappointed in you’ sigh at the poor girl and turned his full attention to his plate.

Jean looked quietly miserable. Nina was humming happily to herself and plowing through her food with the single minded focus of a child who would be allowed to play once her plate was clean.

“Are you two trying to kill each other with your eyes?” Erik’s irritating; over sharing son inserted into her epic stare down with his father.

“Mind your business,” Erik growled without looking away from her or wiping the smug look off his face. She was aching to do it for him but Charles frowned upon violence outside of the danger room.

Peter vanished then reappeared with a smug look of his own. Raven hated Lehnsherr’s.

Well, except Nina. She could stay.

Charles sighed again, “Alright everyone it’s been a hectic week and we’re all stressed out but let’s not take it out on each other.”

Erik had the nerve to look chagrinned. She’d been shooting daggers at him for the past ten minutes and the freak hadn’t blinked. Literally. He was like a shark with a second eyelid or something; she made a mental note to ask Hank about it.

Erik and Charles gazed lovingly at each other for a long moment, clearly having some small conversation no one else was privy to. She was so not jealous of Charles and Erik she reminded herself again, glancing around at the half empty table. Hank hadn’t come up from the lab for dinner. She excused herself and fixed him a plate to take down with her; she had to ask him about Erik being a hybrid creature anyway.

~~

“Good morning Mr. Charles, Good Morning Papa, good morning baby!” Nina sang as she hopped onto the foot of the bed in Erik’s room. She hadn’t let up on the baby thing and she’d only respond in giggles when asked about it.

It had been several days and all Charles could figure out without an invasive search was that somehow Jean and Wanda were in on it too.

Erik had brushed her words aside for the longest time, but even he had grown concerned when she told Charles that the baby liked waffles more than pancakes one morning as he was making his breakfast selections.

“Darling,” Erik began groggily, “you know I love you very much and even if Charles and I do have children someday you’ll still be my baby right?”

“I know papa.” She beamed at him lovingly, not lying. Charles noted with a sigh. They’d thought it might be sibling rivalry or a side effect from the stress of the past few months but no, Nina’s emotional state was about as well as could be expected under the circumstances.

“Then why do you keep talking about a baby dearest? Do…do you _want_ a little brother or sister?” Erik pressed the issue, mentally asking Charles for help which he playfully rebuffed. He loved watching Erik parent; he was surprisingly good at it, or perhaps not given his years of experience.

Instead, Charles distracted his darling girl from her father’s questions by pulling her into his lap and running his fingers through her hair, she had a sensitive scalp and it comforted her. Nina laid her head against his collarbone and looked at her father through half lidded eyes.

Erik sent Charles a mental pinch at this and tried a different line of questioning. “Wanda is a good big sister isn’t she? And so are the other girls in a way. Did they make you want to be a big sister?”

Nina smiled at him as he finished speaking, “You’re silly papa.” He opened his mouth to respond but she turned to Charles with wide eyes, “Piggy back to breakfast?”

“Anything for you, darling,” he cooed, putty in her hands.

Erik groaned and fell back onto the bed, covering his eyes with his hands as Charles turned and let Nina climb on before he stood from the bed.

“Papa, can you bring bunny?”

“And where is bunny?” he asked with grudging good humor and without uncovering his eyes.

“He wants to eat your shoe again but he’s under the bed because I won’t let him.” she informed him sadly, like poor bunny had a broken heart because he couldn’t eat Erik’s shoes.

“I’ll bring him down and we’ll play in the garden after breakfast alright?” he said gently, to make amends.

“Yes Papa!” she cheered happily, right into Charles’ ear he noticed with a pleased grin as the telepath flinched.

 _~That was a fail with Nina and Jean, you have to get it out of Wanda~_ Erik projected.

_~Are you sure you don’t want to try? She’s quite like you in many ways~_

_~No, you try. If it doesn’t work I’ll give it a shot~_

Their conversation was cut short by Nina digging her heels into Charles ribs to make him go, Erik hid a snort and ducked under the bed to find bunny who was huddled longingly next to a patent Italian leather loafer.

“Oh no you don’t,” he scooped the little fur ball up and away from temptation before following his little family down the breakfast. “Let’s get you some greens, much better than shoe leather, I promise.”

~~

“Charles, do you remember our trip to the zoo?” Wanda began nervously. He shot her an incredulous look; he’d never forget their trip to the zoo, not if he lived forever. She interpreted the look correctly and blushed a pale pink, averting her gaze.

“Well, before Peter interrupted I wanted to tell you something. Something Jean and I noticed about your telepathy?” Charles nodded, remembering. “But then we talked it over and realized that you and Erik had…bonded mentally,” she said softly, blushing even redder.

Charles was bemused, “So, what, my bond with Erik has changed my telepathy?”

“We think so; your energy is different than before. Perhaps your meld with En Sabah Nur affected your mind in some way as well,” She grimaced, “Jean told me all about it.”

Charles’ mind was whirring a mile a minute, he’d been so caught up in the changes to the school, and reforming the X-men and his relationship with Erik that he hadn’t even noticed a change in himself, or if he had he’d chalked it up to exhaustion or the bond he and Erik had forged.

“I’ll have Hank look into it, I’m sure he’ll be fascinated and perhaps be able to pinpoint the difference you girls have noticed. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

Wanda looked increasingly uncomfortable. “Charles, I think Nina figured it out more than we did. Jean said she felt like you had two minds but one was almost pure emotion and she thought perhaps it was that bond you and Erik have. And your energy, when I read it is…dual? Like, like I would see in a pregnant woman,” she finished in a rush.

Well, he didn’t know what to say to that. Apparently Erik’s children had a gift for shutting him up.

“Charles?”

“I’m not pregnant. I can’t be,” he huffed a strained laugh.

Wanda wrinkled her nose and shifted uncomfortably and Charles suddenly realized why Jean had been too embarrassed to discuss this in any way. They’d have been better off letting Nina do it he thought wryly.

“I’m not sure if you’ve had Hank look you over since you got back. Or since you and Erik…um…”

Charles blushed deeply, “thank you my dear but I assure you _I’m not pregnant_ ,” he said firmly, hoping to end the most awkward conversation of his life.

No such luck.

“Then I have to tell you that there is another consciousness attached to you, _maybe_ you’ll feel it once it’s more formed but …Nina seems to think it’s a baby and Jean has come to agree.” Wanda grimly continued.

“...And you?” he asked in dull shock.

“I think they may be onto something,” she said hesitantly. “I was hoping that maybe you had the ability to bear children…” she looked incredibly hopeful.

Charles gave an internal groan. He was _not_ going to tell her that he and Erik hadn’t done anything that would result in pregnancy. Even if that could happen between two men. Which it couldn’t. And hadn't. Because he wasn't pregnant.

~ _My life is absurd_ ~ he pouted mentally.

~ _You’re just getting that now?_ ~ Erik laughed, not providing the sympathy he was looking for.

~ _Professor!! Jean asked me about a pregnancy test ‘for a friend’!!~_ Hank interjected in a panic, clearly assuming the worst and falling back into his old habit of blaming the Summers’ for every bad thing on earth.

~ _Don’t worry, Hank the friend is me~_  He soothed, but perhaps that wasn’t as comforting a response as he thought it would be because Hank simply didn’t reply. After thinking over it for a moment, he could see why.

Charles pursed his lips to keep in a hysterical chuckle as he and Wanda headed to the lab to see what there was to see. His life may be absurd, but he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for sticking with me! I have plans for this! I'm beginning to suspect this will be way longer than I thought! Good news, right? Thanks for all the support! Comments and kudos are love!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sexy Cherik alone time! Family bonding! Magic spells! Another outing with Nina and Kurt! Baby News!

Charles called Erik to the lab as he and Wanda may their way through the mansion in awkward silence.

He cleared his throat as they waited for the elevator to take them to the sub levels. Wanda glanced at him from the corner of her eye then looked straight ahead once more.

“Why did you say you hoped I was able to bear children? Do you want Erik and I to have a child?” He asked partly out of curiosity but mostly to break the tense silence between them.

She shifted from her weight silently for so long that Charles thought she wasn’t going to answer. In fact she didn’t until they’d caught the elevator and were exiting on the lab level.

“Not quite, it’s just that you feel pregnant and if you _aren’t_ and _can’t give birth_ then I don’t know what that means. Not that you and Erik wouldn’t be good parents I mean, look how you are with Nina, but two men? How will that work? How will your baby…? And I feel its energy, Charles.” She shrugged helplessly.

His blood ran cold at the fear hidden behind her words, she was telling the full truth and she had some small ability to see the future so he was more than inclined to believe her, especially since Jean agreed.

“Hank! We’re here,” he called, holding the lab door open for Wanda and following her in. Poor Hank looked like he’d aged ten years since breakfast. He was looking at Jean like she was a viper, poised to strike.

She rolled her eyes playfully at his glare, “I swear it’s not a joke! I don’t need a pregnancy test Hank, I’d tell you if I did.” She was blushing as red as her hair by the end of her sentence.

Charles hid a smile at the disbelief painted on Hank’s face as Jean spoke.

“Charles, I’m told Wanda has filled you in on…what they think is going on?” Hank asked almost desperately.

Charles huffed a sigh, “Yes, I am apparently presenting as…pregnant to the young ladies and we’d like to figure out what’s going on.”

Hank shook his head slowly and ushered Charles over to an exam table, “Just when I thought we’d seen it all.” He muttered under his breath, their eyes met and they shared a laugh for the absurd situations they’d found themselves in time and again.

Charles took a deep breath as Hank set about taking samples and asking questions.

~~

Erik was in a state of shock. Whatever he’d expected when Charles asked him to come to the lab, this wasn’t it.

He was truly beginning to suspect that he had a secondary mutation for fertility. He wondered…but that was just his mind wandering. He was going to be a father, again.

“Erik?”

He sat up from his reclined position on Charles’ bed. Usually no one bothered him when he was in Charles’ room, notable exceptions being Charles and Nina. Though he didn’t suppose he could accuse the telepath of bothering him in the man’s own room.

“Erik?” Charles asked softly again, knocking on his own door out of sheer politeness.

He sighed heavily ~ _Come in Charles~_

He did, closing the door quietly behind him. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just trying to wrap my head around this.”

“I know how you feel, I’m quite lost myself.” Charles assured him, lying back on the bed and clasping their hands where they lay between them on the mattress, their only point of contact.

“You hide it well.”

“I’ve had a lot or practice over the years,” he gave a half hearted chuckle that faded into a tense silence before continuing. “After you left, Hank spoke to me alone. He thinks that if we do nothing the-anomaly- will be reabsorbed by our bond.”

“He thinks?”

“He’s about 80% sure.”

“What’s the other 20%?”

Charles shifted onto his side to face his boyfriend, not watning to lie, but not watning to scare the other man either. “It would basically become another fully formed consciousness, likely manifesting as schizophrenia. Likely in me.”

Erik gripped his hand more tightly, “I can’t accept that risk.”

Charles hesitated for a long moment, trying to get a read on the situation before speaking. “Erik, this year has already-“

“This year is the year I found you! Please don’t make it the only year we share,” Erik blinked hard, not wanting to imagine a world without Charles. It had been hard enough to lose Magda and the life they’d built, he couldn’t lose Charles as well. He wasn’t that strong.

For one horrible moment he was back in the forest behind their home in Poland, kneeling beside the bodies of his wife and daughter and the ensuing months had all been nothing but a broken mans fantasy. He sat bolt upright, gasping for air, unable to breathe. There was no Magda. No Nina. No Charles. No Wanda. No Pietro. No safe haven for a monster like him.

 _~Erik, darling~_ he felt a pulse of _soothing/calm/affection_ press against the jagged edges of the fear and grief that wrapped around his mind like the barbed wire in the camps, trapping him in a never ending hell.

He came back to himself, shaking and weeping, curled into Charles’ arms, clothes soaked in a cold sweat. He heard Charles murmuring softly against his hair but couldn’t hear his words over the rushing of blood pounding in his ears. He sucked in a desperate, ragged breath or tried to, but it was like breathing under water.

 _~Erik, my darling everything is alright. **Breathe**.~ _ Then suddenly he could. He felt his heart rate slow as well, and could only be grateful that Charles was with him when this attack struck. He was well acquainted with panic attacks, though he hadn’t had one in years, not since Nina was born. She was a balm to his soul.

He remembered Magda comforting him time and again after he woke from nightmares of Shaw, of arrest and isolation. Of white sand beaches.

 _~I’m glad she was there for you when I couldn’t be~_ Charles said softly, brushing his sweat slicked hair back from his forehead and kissing his temple lightly.

There by confirming that Charles had always been the better man. Erik knew that if he’d returned, even with his family intact, he’d have felt betrayed if Charles had taken a wife and started a family of his own. It was selfish and wrong but he couldn’t change his fundamental nature.

~ _I wouldn’t have you any other way~_ Charles assured him, wrapped protectively around him both physically and mentally. Erik forced his muscles to relax as he listened to Charles’ steady heartbeat beneath his ear.

They lay there for a long time without speaking when Erik felt Nina’s necklace thundering up the stairs as fast as her little legs could carry her. He tensed immediately, thinking something was wrong.

“Your little warrior princess is coming to defend you from your fears,” Charles said with unmistakable fondness, not letting him shift an inch. Erik huffed a laugh and relaxed again, unlocking the door and swinging it open so she could come inside.

“She should be running the other way if something scared me that badly. What if we were being attacked?”

“She’s her father’s daughter in more ways than one.” Charles said letting his mind flicker over images of Nina calling ravens to defend him in the forest and Peter attacking a god to defend his family.

Erik tried to hide a smile at the admiration Charles felt for his children but knew he’d failed when Charles mirrored it back to him in a pleased hum.

“Papa!!” Nina hurtled through the door and clambered onto the bed to wrap her arms around his neck, breathing hard from her run across the estate.

“Hello darling girl, I’m sorry to scare you.” He murmured in Polish as he turned and pulled her into a tight embrace, tucked close to his chest. She trembled, coming down from her adrenaline high. His brave little one.

He buried his face in her hair, more grateful than ever that she was still with him. He’d take a million calls from the cops to have five more seconds of her in his arms. Erik felt Charles press a gentle hand against the back of his neck, keeping him grounded in the moment.

He felt a wave of _love/happiness/relief_ flow through him like sun warmed water and shot Charles a grateful look over Nina’s head. Only to have Charles shake his head and nod towards Nina.

 _~I told you she was coming to defend you from your fears. She’s learned a lot from Jean about emotions in their time together~_ Charles informed him with a smile, pride in both girls flowing out of him in waves.

 _~She’s learned from more than Jean~_ Erik replied softly, leaning into Charles’ warmth, feeling the terror of the past few minutes fade away at last. ~ _She learned from her other father as well~_

He looked up to see Charles blinking happy tears out of his eyes as they resumed cuddling until Nina’s tremors had passed. They spent the time listening to Erik tell adorable stories about when Nina was a baby. Charles smiled and settled back to listen and enjoy, taking Nina’s hand when she reached for him and simply basking in the moment.

For all the drama of it, he supposed he had Erik’s answer, the fact that it aligned with his own desires was nothing but a boon. They were going to have a child. Part him and part Erik, the wonderful man. Just as soon as they could figure out how.

~~

After Nina had been soothed and sent on her way to be the guest of honor at a ‘girls only’ sleepover in Jean’s room, Erik and Charles were left to their own devices.

Erik went to speak but Charles silenced him with a finger to his and asked him to lock the door. He did with, pupils dilating as Charles shed his shirt and stepped past him, looking over his shoulder as he led the way into the bathroom.

Erik quickly bolted the door and followed his lover, leaving a trail of clothes along the way; soon he was standing nude in the en suite, watching Charles finish disrobing as steam filled the air. Charles took his breath away. He’d never been attracted to another man before and doubted he ever would be again. Charles was his magnificent exception. The only man for him.

 _~Erik~_ he pulled him forwards into a surprisingly chaste kiss given their current state of dress. Erik kissed back, deepening it to something more passionate, sliding his tongue across Charles’ bright red lips until he was granted entry.

The pressed together desperately, only pulling away when they where achingly aroused and gasping for breath, fingers leaving trails of desire painted on each other’s skin.

Charles stepped into the hot stream of the shower and pulled Erik in after him, they slowly soaped each other up with bare hands and delicate touches until they couldn’t hold back any longer and rutted together in the suds and steam until they're torsos were streaked with evidence of their passion.

They finally rinsed off after a long while and dried one another, playfully trading kisses and touches until they stumbled back into the bedroom, dizzy with joy.

“I promise to keep the door locked, no one will see anything,” Erik was murmuring into Charles’ throat, pressing a line of hot kisses to his pale, freckled skin.

“Erik…”

“I swear! If any of those brats get past my lock they deserve to be scarred for life!” he cajoled sweetly.

Charles sighed in what was meant to be exasperation but Erik knew him to well and could feel the amusement pouring off him.

“Alright, but I swear I have to do any mind wipes in the morning…!”

“I guarantee to make it worth your while,” Erik growled playfully, lifting Charles and tossing him onto the bed, chasing him and wrestling around on the bed until they were flushed and restless once more.

“You’re my exception too you know,” Charles said when Erik pulled away after a particularly moving kiss.

“I know, you’ve never been with a man either,” Erik grinned wolfishly.

“Not just that you ridiculous man. I mean everything I let you get away with; I don’t know what you could do to make me turn away from you,” he assured him softly

“I hope to never find out,” Erik agreed quietly before spending the rest of the night proving just why they were so good together.

~~

The next two weeks were a blur of research and activity to find an answer to their dilemma of giving the soul of Erik and Charles’ child a corporeal form.

They all finally managed to agree on Wanda channeling their bond into a spell. It seemed to be their best bet and have the least amount of risk for both men.

Wanda was a nervous wreck and had spent countless hours poring over the spell books Charles had procured for her shortly after her arrival.

She needed this spell to go right or she’d never forgive herself. Erik and Charles only made it worse by telling her that they were happy she was even willing to try and that her best efforts were all they could ask for.

“You can do this Wanda, you’ve got the memory thing down, this is like a bigger one of those.” Peter held her hand, trying to help her calm down before their attempt.

She let out a slow breath, “And if-”

“If it goes wrong we’ll be chilling in the Bahamas before they know we’re gone,” he laughed but she knew he meant it. He’d give up the life he’d built for himself in a moment if she asked it of him. She gave him an impromptu hug which he returned without his usual prickliness.

“Thank you, Peter.”

“Go get ‘em ginger tiger,” he tugged her pony tail playfully, calling her the nickname their mother had for her. She grinned and looked more like Erik than ever before. It was weird at first, but it had kind of grown on him and after spending so much time with the guy it was kind of cool.

They walked into the lab hand in hand like the first day of school all over again she shot him a look and he knew she was thinking the same thing. They had each other’s back, always had, always would.

~~

Mystique had taken Kurt and Nina into the city for an outing to keep Nina from witnessing anything tragic in case the spell went wrong and to provide a buffer for herself and Kurt. As much as Hank had assured her that everything would be fine, the zoo incident and Kurt’s reticence in her presence were foremost in her mind. She could only hope that the day didn’t end in tears.

She held Nina’s hand and looped her arm through Kurt’s, trying not to remember doing the same with his father. There would be time for that later. They appeared in an alley just outside of Times’ Square, she didn’t know much about them, but she figured two kids from the eastern block would like to play tourist for a day.

She hid a sigh as Kurt stepped away from her as soon as they arrived. Nina was a sweetheart though and happily gripped her hand, wanting to do it again already. They stepped out into the bustle of the city and lost themselves in the energy of the crowd.

Shortly thereafter she regretted her decision when she watched her son getting eyed lasciviously right in front of her. She had half a mind to turn blue and tell everyone to step off her baby. God this was so weird. She’d have to ask Erik how he did it. Though she imagined that if anyone hit on Wanda in front of him he’d impale them on something.

She also suspected that if he didn’t like Ororo, the young lady would have gone missing long ago. Perhaps he wasn’t the best person to ask.

“What’s a snow-cone?” Kurt was asking a young lady who was asking him to buy her one; she blushed to the roots of her purple hair and gushed about his accent.

Raven rolled her eyes and frowned down at Nina who had a look of intense concentration painted on her pretty little face.

She shook her hand lightly to catch her attention, “how about a snow-cone?” she asked with a smile since Kurt was sharing a red with the possible mutant who was hinting at a movie date.

“What’s a snow-cone?” Nina asked brightly. Raven smiled at her enthusiasm, it might be nice to have a little girl she thought. Hank would be a good father. She pushed the thought out of her mind and proceeded to the vendor. “If you don’t know what a snow cone is I’m guessing you don’t know anything about FAO Schwartz?” She smiled conspiratorially at an oblivious Nina.

~~

Charles and Erik sat shirtless in the center of the sigils Wanda had drawn on the stone patio. They were facing each other and holding hands. Charles had strengthened their bond until it was a solid as possible. Jean stood by; ready to catch any telepathic feedback before it could hurt or distract Wanda as she was casting.

Hank paced around, checking the measurements and runes against the books Wanda had researched.

Peter and Ororo stood by, closer than necessary though according to them, they were simply close friends. Erik rolled his eyes and shared a mental smirk with his boyfriend.

~ _You’re terrible~_

_~You’ve known that for a long time, old friend~_

“Okay, we’re ready to start,” Hank nodded decisively and stepped back with an encouraging smile for Wanda. She stood just outside the circle and began chanting in a low tone, filling the air with pink sparkles until the air around the sitting pair seemed to be made of maroon glitter which Erik loved. Charles quirked and eyebrow but decided some things were better left unsaid.

Charles and Erik locked eyes and felt an almost ticklish pull on their bond. For a moment they watched each other through the light fog and felt an extended moment of pure peace. Like time froze and they spent an eternity in each other’s arms. Neither wanted it to end, and just when it seemed like it wouldn’t something shifted and they lying spread eagle on the patio, waking at the same moment and wondering what was happening over the excited chatter of their audience.

“I swear I did it right, I did it exactly right!” Wanda was sobbing into Peter’s chest as he comforted her with soft words. Hank was taking Erik’s pulse as Jean took Charles’. Ororo looked panicked, dark clouds suddenly filing the sky and threatening a deluge.

“That’s quite alright, Wanda I’m sure you did,” Charles said sitting up gingerly, feeling surprisingly rested and no worse for the wear. He felt through the bond that Erik was fine as well and soon found himself caught up in a hug as Jean and Ororo hugged him from each side; he looked across to see Erik getting the same treatment from Wanda.

“I’m so sorry, Dad!” she was crying as he held her and stroked her hair gently. They shared a small smile at the delight Erik felt at being called dad. The twins called him Erik and he’d never suggested otherwise, but Charles knew how much it meant to him to be held in such esteem by his children.

“I’m sure you did well, dearest. Let’s see what the tests say before you go blaming yourself.” He soothed gently.

“Really?”

“Yes, read my energy, did you hurt me?”

She pulled back and looked him over carefully, “No,” she said hesitantly, then her gaze followed an invisible ribbon that connected him to Charles and she blanched. “Oh.”

Erik frowned as she stiffened in his arms, “What? What’s wrong?”

Jean pulled back to look at Charles and her eyes widened comically as well. “Jean? What is it? Did the spell not work?”

“I don’t think it did, Charles,” Hank cut in slowly. “We were trying to give the baby a body but…well there’s no baby." He finished sadly.

“Professor, your energy is very odd, how do you feel?” Jean asked, clearly concerned.

He started to say, “I feel fine.” But just then he felt a rush of fire flood his body and he gasped, reaching a shaking hand towards Erik. He _had_ to touch him, the urge was overwhelming, like a drowning man starved for oxygen.

“Professor!”

“I-I need-” then he was swallowed by nothingness.

~~

He woke several hours later on a table in Hank’s lab, alone except for Erik hovering by his bedside.

“I sent Hank away, I thought you may not want to wake up with a crowd,” he said; worry lines etched into his forehead.

Charles grasped his hand tightly, feeling the fever boiling his blood coil tighter, “Thank you, I want nothing more than to be alone with you,” he purred, eyes alight with lust.

Erik was taken aback, “Darling you’re ill. Hank can find no cause for your fever and you’ve been out for exactly two hours. He glanced at the clock to see that his boyfriend had woken exactly 120 minutes after he’d collapsed. The oddity made him more than a little uncomfortable and he wanted Charles looked over before another minute passed.

“I know the reason for my fever,” Charles panted, pulling Erik down onto the table with a groan, pressing a heated kiss on the other man. Erik meant to give his boyfriend a kiss and perhaps manual relief if he was so desperate, before running to get Hank to check him over. But as soon as their lips met he was consumed in the flames of lust that poured through Charles and into him like a river overflowing a dam.

They came together in an endless conflagration, hands on heated skin and became one. He didn’t know how, but suddenly they were nude and he was lifting Charles onto his lap to slide down his rigid cock. They’d discussed it at length and both wanted to try topping but this was so sudden, so soon, so perfect he groaned as they came together again and again. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t remember prepping Charles but he must have for how could he be so open yet so tight? He moaned deep in his throat, all thought pushed aside in favor of the physical.

The sound of groans and skin on skin filled the lab for an eternity. They were racing towards a climax on stretched time, barely aware of their surroundings. Charles braced his knees more firmly on the bed and locked eyes with Erik, riding him like an animal. The air around them was thick with the maroon fog from the spell, surrounding them, cocooning them, and filling them to bursting until they finished in a joint pulse of shimmering energy that sent them both under once more.

~~

 _~What the hell was that?~_ Charles asked groggily inside Erik’s mind. They’d woken at the same moment, just as they had after passing out on the patio.

Erik opened his eyes and blinked at the bright lights of the lab shining down on them. There was a loud pounding that sounded like it was coming from a distance. He glanced over at the door to the lab to see that was now a seamless metal slab keeping everyone out. Huh. He didn’t remembering doing that.

~ _Erik!_ ~ Charles caught his attention with an audible gasp. He turned to look at his boyfriend lying next to him on the bed onto to see a small, perfectly formed baby curled between them, sleeping peacefully.

He was so small, a newborn by the look of it.

The banging grew more insistent. But they ignored the chaos outside the room to wonder over the small form of their child.

~ _Looks like Peter isn’t your only son anymore~_ Charles blinked back tears as their son opened his bright blue eyes and squirmed irritably under the lights.

~ _Erik!_ ~

 He quickly shut the lights to a lower level, causing the baby to stop fretting and coo in wonder. It was amazing. It was true love. They curled together over their perfect boy, counting ten fingers and ten toes and kissing his fat little cheeks as he blinked up at them sleepily and nuzzled against their bare skin for warmth. They looked into each other’s eyes through a veil of tears. There were no words for what they were feeling; it was a pure moment of bonding.

“Charles, I lov-”

“Erik I swear to god if you don’t open this door and let me see my brother I’ll kick your ass!!” there was a stunned pause as both men realized that there was a whole world turning outside of this room. They’d lost so much time. Erik frowned at the clock, or what had been the clock and was now a melted heap of slag. Huh. He didn’t remember doing that either.

He didn’t remember doing a lot of what he saw done to Hank’s lab. He frowned at the total destruction of everything except the bed they were resting on. He frowned down at Charles and the baby. They were all bare naked.

This was going to be hard to explain.

  _~Understatement of the year~_ Charles agreed happily, reaching across their child to squeeze his hand.

The baby gurgled and kicked fussily, not liking being ignored. Charles immediately scooped him up and cuddled him close. Letting the tiny boy nurse his finger as he hummed a lullaby. Erik was enchanted as he watched them together. He could have watched them for the rest of time.

“Erik!” Raven began again, “Get out here, now you trickster, sending me out with you daughter!! To the city!! _ERIK do you have any idea what she did?!?!”_ she sounded incandescent with rage.

He sighed. The rest of the world could wait. But not his children. He was sure Wanda was tearing herself apart with worry. And apparently Nina had done something to set her aunt off.

Charles looked up from their son, eyes brimming with joy. “I like the name David,” he said in a hushed voice, easily ignoring the fit his sister was throwing in the hall.

“David it is,” Erik was only too happy to agree. His parents would have loved the name. He sat behind Charles, pulling him into the cradle of his thighs before carefully wrapping them all in the bed sheet.

He paused for a moment to kiss his beloved and their child before waving a hand and allowing the world to intrude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for following along with this! I was trying to get the baby scene the way I wanted it, please ask any questions you need answered! I hope this isn't a gibberish mess! Thank you so much for reading! I love you all!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby Fluff! What did Nina get up to in the city? No real plot just David's first day fluff!

To say that Hank and Raven looked surprised would have been a massive understatement. Charles didn’t bother to look up from the precious bundle in his arms as they burst into the lab after Erik peeled back the slab of metal that was once the door.

Erik smirked from his position curled around his little one and the love of his life. He was sure he could ask Charles what they were thinking, but he didn’t really care either way.

Hank managed to speak first as he took in the peaceful domestic scene amid the absolute wreckage of his lab, “Professor…Erik…what? How?”

“Is that a baby?” Raven demanded sounded equal parts shocked and upset.

“Yes,” Charles cooed at the bundle who blinked up at him in wonder, snuggling against his chest. “His name is David and he’s our son. The spell worked.” He finished in hushed awe.

Hank still hand processed his surroundings.“Everything is destroyed…it’s like a tornado-”

“Really, Erik? Another one? Haven’t you done enough?” Raven demanded with a small smile as she slowly approached the trio. She leaned over as Charles flipped the blanket back slightly so she could see her nephews face.

“Oh Charles, he has your eyes,” she tickled his fat little cheek with two fingers receiving a consternated look that made her laugh. “Good job you,” she smiled tearily.

Erik shot her a mock frown, “I get asked why I had another kid and he gets congratulated? That makes no sense it’s the same kid!”

They ignored him and the all continued to ignore Hank who was wandering around the massive room with a look of blank incomprehension, “How? _How?_ ” he muttured something unintelligible, “Not even metal…”

Raven eagerly held out her arms, “May I hold him?”

Charles finally looked up from David to blush slightly and not meet his sisters eyes, “Well I would have to untuck more of the blanket and we’re not exactly dressed for company.” He hedged.

“Oh please, I’ve been swimming with both of you-“ she cut her self of and narrowed her eyes. “I mean, you are wearing _something?_ Right?”

“Not exactly,” Charles blushed deeper and went back to playing with David’s tiny fingers as Erik pulled the blanket more securely around them.

“Oh my god, did you guys just have sex in here? Oh my god Erik, I see where your kids get it!” She turned and headed out of the lab quickly.

Erik frowned at the perceived slight to his children.

 ~ _She meant your unintentional destructive tendencies, also she’d gone to fetch us clothes~_ Charles soothed his ruffled feathers with a mental touch causing Erik to relax and press a kiss to the other mans temple.

_~He’s perfect isn’t he?~_

_~Absolutely, you know he looks just like Nina when she was new~_

Charles shook his head fondly at the news. They lost themselves in their baby once more and before they knew it Raven was back with a pair of sweats and sneakers for both of them. She grabbed Hank and left them to their own devices to get dressed.

They took turns so that one of them was holding the baby at all times.

_~I feel a bit guilty, do you think Hank will be alright?~_

Erik shrugged, cuddling his son close to his chest. “I’d have leveled the mansion to get David here; one room is of no concern.”

Charles gave him an exasperated look, “ _To you_ , Erik. Let’s just thank goodness it didn’t come to that. I’d hate to have to put you and Jean to work again so soon.”

Erik grinned at that, “She’d going to spoil him.”

 _~They all are~_ Charles agreed with a playful grimace.

“Well, let’s head out and see what your big sister did to your Auntie Raven, do you wonder? I wonder.” Erik chattered gently to the baby who was clearly on the verge of falling asleep.

_~And we need to see about getting some food for him, neither of us has the equipment to nurse~_

Erik nodded, taking his word in stride, “We can send Peter or Kurt. Or maybe Wanda has a spell for that.”

He felt a mental spike of anxiety at his words and could only laugh at the worries his beloved had about the backfires of his daughters magic.

~~

They headed up to Charles’ favorite study where he spent most of his free time indoors, David was asleep in Erik’s arms, his mental state calm and happy. He liked the motion, he liked their voices, he recognized them.

Erik was delighted when he told him and sat down to murmur endearments to his youngest child.

Charles called Erik’s other children down to the study to hear the news first. Peter appeared out of nowhere, “Hey guys, are you alright? Wanda’s oh man! Did it work? You guys have a baby?” he blurted out a mile a minute not waiting for a response as one sentence rolled into another.

Charles huffed an exasperated sigh, “Yes Peter try to calm down. Erik is holding your bro-”

“Charles!” Wanda wailed as she entered the room, eyes puffy from crying. She flung her arms around his neck and held on tightly, he obliged her for a long moment.

“It’s alright Wanda, the spell worked on something of a delay, but as you can see, it did work. Dry your eyes.” He said gently as she pulled back with one last sniffle.

“I thought I’d killed you both! I never would have forgiven myself!”

“Relax dear, as you can see, we’re fine,” he ran his hands up and down her arms comfortingly. “Now as I was telling Peter-” they glanced over to see him hovering behind Erik, curiously still and silent. Even Wanda looked impressed to see that.

“Baby’s here!” Nina sang as she bounced into the room and leapt at Charles. He caught her with a grunt and swung her around before setting her down once more.

“Great, now we’re all here! Everyone, this is your brother, David.” Erik cradled his son in one arm and gestured to his daughters to join them. He helped Nina settle into the chair with him and gently showed her how to hold the baby as he passed him over.

She was enthralled, “Papa he’s so tiny!” she whispered out of fear of waking him.

“You were that tiny at his age too,” he assured her as he pushed her hair back from her face with one broad hand. “In fact he looks just like you when you were new.” She blinked up at him happily before turning her attention back to her little brother.

“He’s precious, I’m so glad it worked Dad. I’m glad you’re alright,” Wanda said. Erik took her hand and kissed it gently in response.

“We wouldn’t have him without you, Wanda. I can never thank you enough.” She smiled widely, joy pouring from her almost visibly.

“Kids cute,” Peter agreed with a pleased  nod. “I like him.”

“I’m glad you approve, Peter.” Erik said dryly.

They took their time allowing each of them to hold their little sibling. Charles took picture after picture, leaving the Polaroid’s on his desk to dry. He could hardly  believe it was possible to be this happy.

Erik was watching Wanda pace with a newly woken David who had whimpered softly until she snuggled him to her breast and began to hum a lullaby.

“He’s a cuddler,” he nodded to the two of them, Nina still tucked close against his side. “I guess it runs on the family.”

Charles snapped another photo with a smile.

~~

That night after they’d introduced David to the rest of the current residents of the mansion to much cooing and kissing all around, which the baby had handled surprisingly well, they fed him and put him to bed with Nina’s help.

They’d readily agreed to formula feed him once Wanda hesitantly explained that any such spell might lead to one, none, or even all of them (including her) to begin spontaneous lactation.

“I want to get back to non awkward conversations with her,” Charles whined to Erik as Jean pressed kiss after kiss to David’s face while Ororo read the instructions and began preparing a bottle of formula.

To be fair they sent Peter for Formula and diapers and Kurt for bottles and onesies. Their playful rivalry was apparently alive and well.

Erik shrugged carelessly at his words, smirking at the look of fear on Scott’s face at how taken Jean was with the baby. “She’ll be fine.” He said fondly.

“I’m more worried about myself,” Charles countered petulantly. “I can’t handle these talks with your daughter, it’s simply awful!”

Erik chuckled at his misery and wrapped and arm around his shoulders to pull him closer. ~ _I’m sure it will all level out, it has to at some point~_

 _~Famous last words~_ Charles griped as he took David back and sat down to give him his first bottle.

Erik grabbed the camera.

~~

Nina was only too happy to have David’s crib in her room, apparently she’d been hoping for it. Erik held her up over the crib and they sang her special song to him together. Charles tucked him under a soft green blanket and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Erik leaned forward so he and Nina could do the same.

He then carried her to her bed and tucked her in. “Sweetheart, thank you for telling us about your brother. We never would have known without you.”

She wrapped her thin arms around his neck tightly and smacked a kiss on his stubbled jaw, “You’re welcome Papa, you said family helps each other. Now we have David to help us too.” She snuggled into bed with a satisfied smile.

Charles grinned at her antics and picked up the new book they’d begun, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He settled on the edge of her bed to read as Erik paced back over to the crib to watch their baby sleep. “Now, where were we?”

~~

“Do you feel like we’re forgetting something?” Charles asked as they snuggled close in Erik’s bed just an hour later. Neither of them was particularly sleepy but they wanted to enjoy the time to themselves while they had it.

“Did you help Hank fall asleep?” Erik guessed at what might be bothering the telepath.

He looked chagrinned. “Yes, and I promised new, upgraded equipment. A whole new lab in fact, he seemed a bit less lost after that.”

“He’s strong. He’ll be fine,” Erik assured him, gently running his fingers up his spine. Charles arched into the feeling with a gasp only to have Erik suddenly freeze and pull away.

Charles frowned and grasped his arm, ~ _Erik? What is it?~_

 _~Nina and Kurt~_ he practically growled but said no more. Neither of them had even referenced their trip into the city, with all the excitement of the baby and Raven tending to Hank they’d never gotten the story.

Charles groaned and sent a tendril of telepathy out to see if Raven was still awake. She was.

_~Sorry to speak like this but we’re wondering what it is you wanted to tell us about your trip into the city~_

There came a sharp spike of irritation then nothing for several moments.

~ _She’s on her way~_

Erik kicked off the blankets and both men made their way to the small sitting area near the largest window in the room. Raven arrived a few minutes later.

“Raven,” Charles said apologetically, “I’m sorry to call you in so late and in such a way.”

She waved off his apology with a flick of her hand and turned to Erik with a glare. “You wanna know what happened with your kid in _Times Square?”_ she demanded hotly.

Erik massaged one temple and closed his eyes, sinking into his seat in resignation, “Go on.”

She inhaled shakily, “Do you have any idea how many rats live in New York City?” he didn’t respond, assuming the question the be rhetorical. “Well, do you?” she snapped.

“Ah, no. No idea.”

“More than you can count. More than you can imagine!” She declared dramatically.

“I’m sure-“

“How about pigeons, Erik?!”

“Ah-“

“Squirrels and stray cats and dogs! She’s a magnet Erik! It was wild, it was insane!”

She tugged at her short hair in frustration, looking frantic. “We got snow cones and headed to FAO Schwartz, which she loved by the way. Kurt did too,” She said distractedly with a soft smile before continuing her story.

“I got them each one toy and then the screaming started! We left the store in a panic and there were millions of rats pouring out of the sewers! It was like a scene out of The Birds. They were just sitting on every surface, watching. There was no room to walk! You couldn’t see the ground! Cars were covered in animals! Traffic was stopped!”

“She stopped traffic in _Times Square?_ ” Charles cut in, shocked.

“Yes!” Raven hissed angrily. “And she just stood there, watching them for the longest time and then she started walking and they parted for her like the Red Sea!”

“Oh my god Raven, I’m so sorry.”

She continued as if her brother hadn’t spoken. “So I grabbed her and Kurt and pulled them into and an alley and told him to get us the hell out of there.”

They both turned expectant expressions to Erik who hadn’t spoken for several minutes. He looked lost in thought, almost angry. Charles wanted to soothe him to keep him from saying or doing something regrettable until he felt a spark of amusement deep inside his lover.

“Raven,” he began seriously.

She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. “Yes?”

“Does this mean we can’t count on you to babysit?” he asked before dissolving into helpless laughter.

Charles choked on a laugh of his own, not wanting to enrage her any further than she already clearly was.

Raven’s response before storming out of the room was anything but ladylike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for following along! What did you think of their adventure in the city? Is it what you imagined? More actual plot to come soon! Thanks for all the love! xoxo!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moira's back?! Fluff with Erik and the kids! Foreshadowing!

Charles was working in the newly refurbished lab with Hank while Erik was tending to Nina and David for the afternoon. The two scientists were engrossed in going over the changes to Charles’ blood work since his run in with En Sabah Nur. The differences were plentiful and while some where minuscule, others were not. What seemed to concern Hank the most was that the changes still appeared to be manifesting.

Hours rolled by as they filled chart after chart with their hypotheses and findings. They were jolted from the companionable silence by the loud rattle of the laboratory phone. Charles answered it after a moment while Hank had gone back to his research after barely glancing up at the distraction.

“Hello?”

“Charles?”

His heart stuttered for a moment before resuming its regular pace.

“Moira?”

“Yes, I called the main line in your office and a young woman answered and transferred my call. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

“No, no you’re not, I’m just in the lab with Hank, you know how lost we can get in it.” He assured her.

She gave a soft laugh, “Yes I do remember. Look I just wanted to give you a heads up that I’m back in the country and I’ll be heading your way later this week. I have a few loose ends to tie up and some things I’d rather not discuss over the phone.” She said evasively.

He wondered frantically if she was referencing their attempt at a relationship. There had been no promise to wait and he hadn’t heard from her in weeks. But Moira was pragmatic and emotionally distant and she seemed to be all business about this visit. Only time would tell.

“That’s great Moira, you know you’re welcome here anytime. I just want to be clear though that…I’m currently seeing someone.” _~That someone is Erik and I know you’ve only been gone for about three months but we have a one week old~_ He didn’t say aloud. There would be enough explaining once she arrived, no need to embarrass her as well.

She paused for a long moment, “I see. I-I can’t say that I’m happy about it but I do understand…I was gone for a while and I probably could have found a way to stay in touch.” She said absently, as though she were speaking more to herself. Blaming herself for another failed love affair no doubt.

Charles wracked his brain in the strained silence, trying to think of the right thing to say, but it was hard. She was always gone and had been closed off and distant when they had managed to spend any amount of time together.

Moira ended up breaking the dead air, “Thank you for letting me know, Charles. I’ll see you later this week, probably around Thursday or Friday at the latest.” They disconnected with a stiff goodbye. And Charles turned back to a busy Hank with a resigned sigh. Some things just weren’t meant to be.

~~

Erik was delighting in his youngest Children. David seemed fascinated by Nina and would blink widely at her and curl and uncurl his tiny fingers constantly when she was nearby.

Or maybe he was just being a baby like Charles insisted. Either way, they made a charming pair and got along swimmingly.

David was a very quiet baby which Charles, and Jean based on stories her parents had told her assured him was normal. He was apparently coasting on the mental frequencies and simply reached out nonverbally when he was hungry or needed to be changed or simply wanted attention.

Erik didn’t mind, how could he? He had a son, another beloved child with the love of his life. He grinned down at David as the baby smacked his own chin with a spit sticky hand and squinted one eye shut. Brilliant.

“Papa? Are you paying attention?” Nina demanded from where she was sitting a few feet away practicing her reading to the two of them.

“Yes, darling I’m sorry. Listen to your sister David. She’s telling us a story,” he said softly receiving a string of spit bubbles in response. He wiped his chin tenderly and settled the boy against his broad shoulder, letting him tuck his face into the curve of his neck with a whimper.

Erik was astonished by how much his loved ones liked to cuddle him. He’d always thought of himself a rail thin and bony, not comfortable in the least. Magda had always playfully teased him about his ribs. But Charles, Nina, and now David seemed to disagree. He spared a glance for the bunny pressed against his hip. He strongly suspected Nina had made him a guard bunny with the way he tracked David around the house and grounds.

Magda would have been able to get an answer out of her, but with him she was enigmatic. He smiled softly at the thought that his little girl was growing up. The memory of Magda hadn’t faded, but it no longer brought a surge melancholy that would consume him for hours. He shifted his son slightly, reveling in his warmth. She would have loved David. She’d been an excellent mother.

Nina was waiting patiently, watching his moods shift no doubt, he smiled at her backlit form, feet sticking off the edge of the overstuffed leather chair she’d claimed as her own in Charles’ study. He took a moment to commit the sight to memory; he’d try to remember to have Wanda save it for him in the future. If losing Magda had taught him anything it was not to take a single moment for granted, no matter how seemingly mundane.“Go ahead sweetie, we’re listening.”

~~

Raven was in no hurry to see Moira again. Not that she had any real issue with the woman that she hadn't already forgiven Erik for. It would just be weird having to explain all the changes that had happened in her absence. Charles and Erik. _David_. Kurt being her son. Her new thing with Hank.

 It was all very complicated and was sure to be awkward as hell. It gave her that old itch to run. Of course she’d had that increasingly in the past few weeks, though she had been trying to fight it.

She knew deep inside that this was her last chance with Hank and her only chance with Kurt. He was finally starting to open up to spending time with her outside of X-Men training and she couldn’t ruin that.

Besides, she comforted herself, how bad could a visit from the little human be? She shook her head at the memory of how anti human they’d all been directly after Cuba. How adamant that they were right, that human prejudice would turn on them every time.

Then she thought of the students at Charles’ school, happy and healthy and well cared for. Eager to return to their loving families for school holidays.

She thought of how much she loved Kurt though she hadn’t raised him. They had been such foolish children, so naïve to think that they understood to workings of the heart. Much less the depth of love a parent had for their child.

Or a husband for his wife she reflected on Erik’s bond with Magda. A human who’d known who he was and had loved and accepted him anyway. The world was so very different than she’d imagined so many years ago. Far closer to Charles’ vision than she could ever have thought possible.

“What are you thinking about?” Hank asked softly, placing a large furry hand on her shoulder as he came to stand next to her at the picture window in the library.

“Nothing. Everything.”  She shrugged and they shared a laugh at her vagueness.

“I see, contemplating the mysteries of the universe?” he said playfully.

“Something like that,” she agreed with a nod, covering his hand with hers. It was like they’d gone back in time, back to before the split when everything went so wrong. It was an absolution for a life she didn’t entirely regret that she wouldn’t choose if she had a second chance.

“Hey? Still with me?” Hank’s gentle enquiry brought her back to the moment with a soft smile.

“Yes.” she demurred. She was beginning to think she always would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter! longer chapter planned soon! hopefully more frequent updates as well! Thank you for all the love and support! Big reveals coming soon!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moira arrives! Fourth Horseman revealed! Really Awkward Conversations occur! Family bonding!

Moira drove up the winding path to the mansion, a grim set to her mouth. Her passengers were snoring softly in the backseat. Finally having succumb to their exhaustion a few hours out from DC.

She would have given almost anything to be able to turn this task over to someone-anyone-else. But she knew she had to see it through to the end. She was honest enough to admit that her feelings had been engaged with Charles and that she was hurt by his actions.

Their failure reminded her so exactly of her marriage that it stung. She thought fleetingly of her son, living with his father and his new wife while she was off jet setting the world. Saving the world she’d always defended to herself. Her job was important.

But was it fair to ask everyone in her life to take a back seat to her job? She’d always thought so, but now she was beginning to wonder.

She pulled to a stop outside the mansion gates and after a moment Hank buzzed her in. she wondered who Charles was seeing. The mother of a student? A Westchester local?  An ex he’d reconnected with while she was out of the country?

She supposed she’d find out soon enough. She wondered if that woman would be willing to start the family Charles had been so eager for. That had been one of the main reasons for keeping her distance from him. She’d balked at the idea of another pregnancy or even adoption. Kids just took so much time. Time she didn’t have. _Time she didn’t make_ she chided herself mentally before shaking herself out of her malaise. She was here on business, that was her focus.

Moira turned her head to speak over her shoulder, “We’re here, guys. Wake up.” She could only hope that this part of her day went smoothly.

The kids woke up quickly and seemed immediately alert, almost on edge.

“It’s alright guys; this is the place I told you about. You’ll be safe here,” she said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile as they exited the car and made their way up the steps.

Just before she could ring the bell the door swung open and Charles ushered them in with a warm smile that filled his eyes and seemed to radiate from his very being. She couldn’t help but return it.

“Charles.”

“Moira.” They exchanged a brief, slightly awkward hug before stepping back to allow Moira to introduce the children.

“Charles, this is Piotr and Illyana Rasputin,” she ushered them forwards with a soft smile.

Both children were thin, on the borderline of malnourished but while Piotr was nervous, his little sister was curious and eager to explore. The differences in their personalities were stark and shone out from their minds like beacons.

Something else did as well. Charles took a step back and starred at the young man in shock. “Piotr?”

The slim brunette swallowed nervously and offered a clammy hand for Charles to shake, “Yes sir?” he spoke with a thick, almost overwhelming Slavic accent.

Charles glanced between the three of them in shock. Moira had found the fourth horseman.

~~

The X-men and Erik had quickly assembled at Charles’ call. The Rasputin siblings had been left in the capable hands of Charles’ household staff who had were likely spoiling them to pieces. The kids had perfect manners and an unassuming manner that invited nurturing.

“So you found ‘Colossus’?” Hank asked Moira eagerly, clearly having forgotten the interpersonal awkwardness that hung between her and Charles.

“Yes, he and his family were already being watched by the KGB when En Sabah Nur abducted him,” she said with a slight frown handing over a thin manila file that comprised the U.S government’s knowledge of the Rasputins'.

Hank flipped it open eagerly as Raven stepped forward with a question of her own, “What do you mean abducted?” she looked to Ororo in confusion, “I thought he recruited members?”

Ororo shrugged helplessly, “he recruited me, but he never actually cared for any of us. I saw his reaction when Archangel died, he was irritated if anything. I don’t know what he would have done if we had refused to join him.”

“And we know he had no issue with abduction,” Charles concluded dryly, Raven gave a reluctant nod at his words.

“So Piotr is a small kid who can transform? Like Captain Marvel? Cool.” Peter grinned, eager to meet the other guy off the battlefield.

“Not so cool,” Moira said with a sigh. “They’ve officially defected and don’t want to be separated. I don’t know if Illyana is a mutant but they are the only family each other has.”

“She’s probably a mutant or En Sabah Nur would have killed her, right?” Jean asked curiously.

Moira sighed and pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose. “Apparently he killed their parents while Piotr and his brother were out working their land. Illyana was his bargaining chip. Their older brother died defending them and Piotr agreed to leave with him to protect her.” She gave the shortened version of the horrific events.

“Ororo? Don’t you remember any of this?” Charles asked her, concerned. Her emotions were running wild and her thoughts were racing a mile a minute.

“Not really, no,” The time I spent with him was-is- a blur, like a dream I had years ago.” She confessed shamefaced.

Hank nodded as though that made perfect sense, “He had mild persuasion abilities that kept all of you in line with his way of thinking but he had to focus to make it work. That’s why you were able to think for yourself as his concentration was taken by the battle. The hive effect was likely also weakened when Archangel died.” He said simply as Jean put a comforting arm around her distraught friend.

“So how do we know this guy is good too? Does he want to fight? Does he want to be an X-man?” Scott asked sharply, remembering the wicked punch the metal man packed.

“That will be for Piotr to decide once he gets to know us better,” Charles said shortly. “And Moira, this is not only a school but a home, Illyana is welcome to stay with her brother don’t worry anymore about it.”

She gave him a strained smile. “Thank you Charles. I had a hell of a time convincing the kids you would be willing to take them on, but they feel like they know you after the message you put in all our minds. We took a tactical team and broke them out of Soviet holding and escaped back to the states. They’ve had a rough time of it so just…” she trailed off with a lost gesture.

“We’ll do our best by them Moira, I can promise you that,” Charles said with a soft smile.

Raven shot Kurt a concerned look; he’d been silent the whole time and was leaning against the bookshelf watching them all impassively. In that moment he reminded her starkly of his father, her heart gave a twinge. He sensed her perusal and flicked his bright eyes her way before turning his attention back to her brother. She heaved an internal sigh and wondered if she would ever get the hang of being his mother.

Charles adjourned the meeting shortly thereafter and they headed to the Danger Room for a training session that Moira agreed to sit in on.

~~

Erik had joined the team for their training session to play the part of their enemy which they all greatly enjoyed especially Erik who hadn’t used his powers since the battle for much more than entertaining the children.

He was pleasantly surprised to feel how easy it was for him to access his ability. He felt like he could shake the very foundations of the earth. He wondered if his newfound peace was to thank for the unexpected boost in his power level and made a mental note to ask Charles about it later.

Moira agreed to stay on for a few days until the Rasputin siblings were more comfortable in their surroundings.

As much as Charles would have loved to avoid the inevitable reveal of all that had occurred during her long absence, he knew it was best for all involved if they got it out of the way at the earliest convenience. He just hadn’t expected it to come when Moira walked in on Wanda giving David his bottle before putting him down for his nap.

Charles had been heading to the kitchen to collect his son when he felt the bright spark of shock light Moira’s mind. He flinched at the thought that immediately followed at a near deafening level _~He looks just like Charles!~_

He rushed to the kitchen and burst in on the scene, “I-I’m Wanda, Erik’s daughter.”

“Erik’s daughter?” Moira wrinkled her brow in confusion.

“Yes, Peter is my twin brother, he didn't mention me?”

“No.” She said shortly, eyes rapidly flickering from Wanda’s face to David’s, “I’m sorry I was just taken by surprise.” She gave a humorless laugh. “Your baby looks just like my ex but that makes no sense! How old is he?”

Wanda shifted David awkwardly and seemed to search for an answer.

“He’s only a few weeks old,” Charles cut in softly.

Moira lifted her eyes to meet his, surprised to see him standing in the doorway. “Charles, he looks just like you,” she said cautiously.

He sighed and pursed his lips. There was no way to tell her this without hurting her in some way. “That’s because he’s my son.”

She swallowed thickly, radiating disappointment and embarrassment, her thoughts were a flood of ~ _Was he lying all along? Did he know she was pregnant when we were dating? Was he seeing her while we were dating? Was he ever going to tell me? Did he know she was Erik’s daughter when they…~_

 _~Wanda, dear would you take David up for his nap?~_ he projected quickly, sending David a comforting press as well. Wanda practically fled the room, the ever present bunny scurrying along at her heels. Charles wished he could go with them.

“Moira, I know this must seem…odd, but I can explain.”

“I think you’d better, Charles. I don’t want to think this of you, I really don’t” She said sadly, eyes swimming in pain and disillusion.

For a moment he saw himself as she did, a handsome older man taking advantage of a young woman looking for a father figure, possibly out of some sick sense of revenge towards his one time friend turned mortal enemy, Erik.

That was the only piece she couldn’t place in the puzzle. There was no way he would stand for Charles’ behavior, even if he hadn’t raised his daughter. There had to be some other explanation? Unless Charles had _made_ Erik be alright with it? Her frown deepened.

Charles sank onto one of the high top stools at the kitchen island. He knew he was in trouble when the story Moira created in her mind to fill the gaps made more logical sense than what had actually happened.

“Please, it’s nothing like that. I’m not seeing Wanda, David is not her son.”

“Then who is his mother?” Moira demanded, frustrated.

Charles ran a hand over his head with a grimace, “He doesn’t have one.”

She gaped at him, “What do you mean, she died? Oh Charles!”

“No, no one died,” he cut in quickly.

“Then what do you mean, Charles, where is she? _Who_ is she?”

“You might want to sit down for this,” he stated grimly, waiting until she did so to begin his tale.

~~

“Papa?”

“Yes baby?” Erik asked Nina after he’d showered and changed and gone seeking his younger daughter.

“Miss Moira is upset with Mr. Charles.”

He raised his eyebrows, he should tell her not to eaves drop but his boyfriend was alone with his ex… “Oh yeah? And how is Charles?” he tried to ask casually.

“Embarrassed. Upset, he feels bad because she is sad. She likes him and that’s making them both sad.” She concluded with a worried frown.

He knelt at her side and pressed a kiss to her forehead, “It’s all going to be alright darling. Sometimes things with adults can be very complicated.”

“Is Mr. Charles going to be with Miss Moira now?” she asked in a small voice.

Erik felt his heart rate spike but tried to keep his voice steady, “Why do you say that?”

Nina shrugged and looked at the ground where she was digging the toe of her shoe into the sun warmed earth.

“Baby, you know Mr. Charles and I are together,” he said softly, trying not to panic and just call out to Charles to get a read in his conversation with Moira.

“I know Papa.”

“So then what? Charles and Moira used to be together but they’re not anymore, it’s like me and the twin’s mom.” He assured her.

She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck. Suddenly he was flooded with _uncertainty/fear/concern_ and he realized she was worried that they would lose Charles when they had just gotten him. His heart overflowed with love for his baby girl and how attached she’d become to Charles. She needed him in a way he hadn’t imagined she would.

“Okay, let’s go see Charles hmm? Will that help you feel better?” he asked softly, waiting for her to nod against his neck before lifting her as he stood and carrying her back to the mansion from where he’d found her huddled in the garden.

He sent Charles a quick thought, to let him know they were coming and smiled at the warmth that filled his mind in return as he suddenly knew where to find his love. Apparently he’d headed to the library to give Moira some space after the days revelations.

 He felt Nina relax in his arms as Charles’ warmth spread through her as well.

“See, dear one? What did I tell you?” he smiled into her thick hair as they made their way in. “Everything is going to be just fine.”

~~

That night, Charles ordered a small dinner up to the room he and Erik now shared and they had a floor picnic with Nina and David.

The latter seemed unimpressed with his surroundings but Erik may have been projecting on his sleepy little boy. David blinked up at him and shifted his eyes as though trying to focus.

Nina was making Charles a stuffed roll and telling him a convoluted story about the adventures a family of field mice was having in the back garden. He gave her an indulgent smile and asked leading questions to keep her talking; he wanted Nina to know that no matter what ever happened between him and Erik in the future, he’d always be there for her.

 _~I know you will~_ Erik sent with the impression of a kiss ~ _She’ll come to know it too~_

Their eyes met in a promise filled clash _~I know, this wasn’t just for her. Sometimes I just want to be around my favorite people~_ Charles said wearily, clearly referencing the emotionally draining day they’d all had.

~ _I’ll make sure that’s arranged whenever possible~_ Erik leaned in to press a kiss to his smiling red lips, receiving a burst of unhappiness from David as he shifted against his sternum.

“Papa!” Nina admonished, smoothing a hand over her brothers downy head until he settled back into a comfortable position.

“Sorry kids, I’ll try to be more careful,” he promised with a playful grin that had Charles chuckling.

_~They have you on a short lead already my friend~_

Erik gave a half hearted shrug and leaned in to take a bite that Charles held out for him since his arms were full of their son. _~I wouldn’t have it any other way~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAGH Finally the fourth horseman is revealed! Thanks for sticking with me for this long! Just a few more chapters to go!! XOXO!! Much love to you all!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Big Reveals! Good News for the future! Questions for the future! The End?

Moira had left after a few days on the property that she spent helping the kids train and avoiding being alone with Charles at all costs. She was clearly hurt and more than a little humiliated by how quickly and completely he’d moved on while she was still carrying a torch for him.

She was pleased to see the Rasputin siblings take to the other kids and the school itself so quickly and kept her word to check in on them regularly in the intervening weeks but she rarely made the trip to the property any more. She never said anything but each time she saw Erik or David; it was like salt in the wound. She also made Nina inexplicably nervous so Erik was less charitable than he could have been about her presence.

Charles was more than a little upset by how it had all fallen out, but Jean was pragmatic about it all. “There were a lot of ways this could have gone, this is my favorite.” She’d said with one of her increasingly common smiles.

So he’d tried to put the matter out of his mind and focus on the present, not on what might have been. A task that became easier once Hank finally finished his study of Charles’ lab results and come back with an undeniable conclusion.

~~

Charles watched Erik and the kids frolic on the back lawn. They all looked so happy, so free, and so content. It was all he’d ever wanted.

And it scared him.

It wasn’t the nebulous fear that this was the calm before the storm; it was a deeper concern than that. He no longer had any true concerns about the dangers that the future was sure to bring. He was supremely confident that his X-men would be able to handle anything the world threw at them. No, he was frightened of himself.

He watched Wanda chase Illyana around a flower bed. She seemed so carefree, and now that he knew the depth of her power he wondered at her comfort in her own skin.

_~Trouble darling?~_

He gave Erik a small smile and shifted their son in his arms; the infant was loving the bright happy minds surging around him and kept looking back and forth as though trying to absorb the charming scene.

~ _Just thinking about what Hank said~_ he confessed as he playfully tugged David’s exposed toes pulling a rare squeal from the chubby boy.

~ _???~_ Erik abandoned made his way over to join them in the shade. “What about what Hank said? I thought it was good news?”

“It was it is. I mean. I just wonder where it all stops.  Did I make this happen? Are we _really_ this happy? Do any of you really feel this way?” he asked, desperately searching Erik’s face for an answer.

David huffed an unhappy pout, responding to his father’s anxious mood. Charles absently soothed him but couldn’t manage to calm himself.

Erik watched them thoughtfully for a moment before answering. “We feel the way we feel, Charles. Don’t doubt yourself. You’re nothing like Apocalypse. You don’t want slaves, you’ve always had the capacity to control us and you’ve never used it. You never would,” he said with total confidence in his lover.

Charles shook his head before Erik had even finished speaking, “Erik he _changed_ me. You can see it in my blood work; you can see it in my mutation. He did more than heal my legs and take my hair! That bond he created in my mind was a gateway and I absorbed more through it than we ever imagined,” he insisted hotly.

“I disagree. Yes, you absorbed his energy and some of his abilities but he didn’t change you. Not the essence of who you are. Nothing could. You were already the most powerful mutant in the world, so you’re a bit stronger? Nothing to worry about,” Erik said staunchly.

“Erik I’m effecting reality!”

“That’s Wanda’s gig!” he teased lightly, poking David’s belly to make him chortle and grab his own toes.

“Erik!” Charles demanded.

“Charles, sweetheart I don’t know why you can’t see it but you’re helping us. _All of us_. Look at Wanda. Ever since she got here her control has improved daily. Look at Jean, she can control when her visions strike. Look at Nina, I thought it was just her mutation growing stronger as she grew older but you’ve amplified her as well. And you know how I feel about my powers.” He smiled and shared the warm pulse of the earth with his lover and their son.

“You’re improving us all, like any good teacher.  Think about what Hank was really saying. Did he seem frightened of you?”

Charles blinked thoughtfully, “No. He seemed excited. He thought it was great news.”

“Why is that?” he asked gently.

“Because the kids will have control, they’ll be safe.” He chuckled a bit. “He even thinks he may one day be able to control his own appearance at will, like Raven.” He shrugged, “I have high hopes for Scott not needing those goggles for the rest of his life.”

“So what’s the problem? You gave us all a boost without asking? Well we would have accepted regardless. And you didn’t know. Now you do and you can decide what to do with your increased range. Try to see the good in this, Charles. Of anyone in the world, you’re the man to have these powers or they wouldn’t have come to you.”

“But Erik, I’m still changing,” he said softly, fearfully.

“Yes, you’re healed, you’re younger and healthier than before your abduction,” he laughed aloud as Charles pushed him over playfully. Causing David to pulse happiness into their minds like a drug.

Charles laughed as well, “You’re one to talk; we’re both different after that spell. And you’re affected through our bond as well. Aren’t you concerned about what it could mean for the future?”

Erik sighed heavily. “That’s all true. But _I’m_ not complaining. I’m seeing a long future with you making up for lost time! I see us protecting our people from harm.”

“Our people?” he asked curiously, Erik no longer spoke like Magneto had about mutant supremacy.

“ _Good people_. Like my parents, Like Magda, Like Alex, Sean, and Emma. Humans and mutant’s a like working together to protect the weak,” he finished warmly.

“When did you become a pacifist?” Charles teased, passing over their squirming son who was eager to rest in Erik’s arms.

“Who said anything about being a pacifist? Protection usually comes at a bloody price! It’s a hard job but somebody’s got to do it.” He said as seriously as one could while bouncing a drooling baby in his arms.

“Alright.” Charles agreed simply after a quiet  moment.

“Alright?”

“Yes, you’re right. I mean we fixed the future, what’s another change in our story?” he asked softly.

“Hopefully a happy ending,” Erik leaned in to sneak a kiss. David gurgled his agreement.

~~

School was starting again. And Charles had been flooded with requests from parents all over the world who wanted to send their children to the academy. He was forced to seriously consider opening a teaching college so more schools could be opened to meet the growing need.

The popularity of mutants among young people caused a significant drop in anti mutant sentiment with some human teens dying their hair and getting body modifications in an attempt to pass as mutants.

Erik was flabbergasted as they watched a morning talk show with a young woman who’d styled her hair into spikes and was trying to find a doctor to implant false ridges beneath the skin of her face. “You were right Charles, I’ll never understand teenagers,” he insisted numbly as he watched the spectacle.

Charles simply laughed and floated David’s stuffed frog over to his whimpering child. He had to admit, the telekinesis was pretty great and Jean had loved the role reversal of teaching him a thing or two. Hank said the changes to his system were slowing and would likely reach stabilization soon, but his ability to permanently enhance others’ mutations seemed to be permanent.

There had been no negative effects yet with everyone either growing stronger or simply gaining more control. Peter was the only one entirely unaffected but Hank hypothesized that his mutation was already maxed out so to speak.

Peter refused to admit he was sour about that.

As it was, they’d accepted a wave of new students and even more new teachers. There turned out to be a great many mutant teachers ready and willing to help kids like them control their powers and receive a proper education at the same time.

Illyana hadn’t yet presented a mutation but Wanda was working with her on a few spells so she wouldn’t feel like an outcast when the rest of the students arrived. Charles was desperately trying to convince Erik’s eldest to come teach at the school and though he hadn’t won her over yet, he had high hopes for the future.

Erik waved at one of the groundskeepers in passing and shook his head at his own foolishness. Much of the support staff at the school was human. In his life as Magneto he never would have imagined allowing that. He thought of his children, if any of them were baseline he’d have loved them the same.

~ _Thank you Magda_ ~ She’d changed him for the better, she’d prepared him for this life with Charles and their family. He liked to think she heard he liked to think she knew he and Nina were alright.

~ _Erik?_ ~ he turned to watch his love make his way down the steps to place a hand on his shoulder. They were circumspect in their relationship around others. Things were going very well for the school and they were seen as shining examples of mutant kind. They didn’t want to lose support over something so trivial as their sexual relationship. Besides both were very private men and were not prone to PDA on the best of days.

~ _Yes, darling?~_

~ _They’re almost here_ ~ Charles was alight with nerves and excitement. They’d received a very interesting call a few days prior about a newly presented young mutant whose mother was interested in enrolling her in the academy.

They’d agreed to a time for a meeting and school tour and though she wasn’t the first parent to have asked about meeting ‘Magneto’ it was usually young men who idolized him and whose parents were using him as an example of the importance of schooling to fully control their abilities.

“Who knew baselines would ever see me as a role model?” he’d mused one night at dinner after a new student had begged an autograph off him.

“We all would have lost money on that bet” Raven had snorted into her drink looking far too pleased with herself when Kurt had joined in with a chuckle. She was so gone on that boy it defied all logic. But when Erik thought back to his feelings for his own children, he supposed that was just the way of things.

“She was adamant about you being here for the tour, I don’t think she would have agreed otherwise,” Charles had mused about the students’ mother.

They stood side by side as the gates buzzed open and a sporty green car made its way up the drive. Erik felt the smooth run of the engine with a surge of approval. This woman knew how to keep a machine running. That was a major plus in his book.

 _~And you say **I’m** easy to please~ _ Charles sent with a grin.

Erik got a teasing glint in his eye _~You are! Or don’t you remember-~_

Charles cut him off with a blush as a slender brunette stepped out of the driver’s side of the car and pushed her sunglasses up into her thick, curly hair, “Welcome! Charles Xavier, we spoke on the phone, I’m so glad you could make it” he smiled widely and made his way down the rest of the steps to shake her hand.

Erik stayed where he was much to Charles’ consternation. He sent a tug along their mental connection only to fall into Erik’s shock. Charles was overwhelmed as he took their guests hand in a firm grip. She knew Erik. She _knew_ Erik. Well, she knew Erik as-

“Max?”

Erik was frozen in place looking stunned out of his mind, “Suzanna?” he croaked faintly.

“Max? It is you? You _are_ Magento? I wondered!” she shook her head in fond exasperation.

“You two know each other,” Charles cut in awkwardly. Meeting the twin’s mom hadn’t been as bad as all this, of course he had been expecting that.

“Oh yes, we spent a week together a few years ago. I swear, Max! One day you were just gone! I never would have put it together but Lorna manifested a few weeks ago and boom! Metal!” she gave a stiff laugh as her daughter, the aforementioned _Lorna_ came around to stand shyly at her side.

She was young and very pretty, about eleven with a thick mane of curly green hair and Erik’s verdigris eyes.

Charles was speechless as he stared at the child. Erik’s child. Again. Fertility mutation indeed. He wondered petulantly if this was going to be the rest of his life or if Lorna was the last one. Somehow he didn’t think he was that lucky.

He marched Erik down the stairs, snapping him out of his stunned reverie until he joined them next to the car he’d so admired.

“Suzie, Lorna, I’m _Erik_.” he said with a hint of apology in his tone.

Suzanna rolled her eyes at the name change but otherwise didn’t comment on it. Charles had to commend her on her poise in an incredibly awkward situation.

“Hello,” Lorna said softly. “My mom says you can control metal too?” she asked curiously.

Erik cleared his throat and tried to stop himself staring at the little girl, “Yes. I can control the earth’s magnetic field and through that, any ferrous metals,” he said warmly as her eyes lit up with excitement as he spoke about his mutation.

Charles wondered-

“Is that why I can’t move platinum?” she cut in excitedly.

“Exactly! Even I can’t move platinum, but with practice I can now control the energy fields around it and turn them to my will,” he knelt to speak at her level, really warming up to the topic now. Through their mental bond, Charles felt the odd tug of gravity between the pair of them as they leaned in to one another like magnets.

Lorna giggled at the sensation and happily reached out to shake Erik’s proffered hand, “My mom said I’d like you.” She smiled brightly as Erik glanced up at his former lover with a quirked eyebrow.

“Call it a hunch,” Suzanna said dryly.

Charles bit back a laugh at the blush that graced Erik’s face and the look of confusion stamped on Lorna’s. “Shall we all head inside? There’s still so much for us to discuss,” he said, turning to do just that.

“Yes, let’s I’ve heard so much about your school,” Lorna’s mother said with a smile as she followed him indoors, trailed by Erik and their daughter.

His life was absurd, his lover was too. Apparently he’d dropped a stadium on Charles and spent the next week lying low in a classic car garage run by the Dane’s. As seemed to be the usual result, he’d impregnated a woman during that time and skipped town without ever thinking twice about it.

By the end of the day it had been decided that Lorna would be attending the academy when it reopened for the school year in the next couple of weeks. She was over the moon about it, clearly wishing her life away to come spend more time with other kids like her.

Suzanna had agreed to use the time to tell Lorna about the identity of her father and had suggested Erik do the same with his other children who’d come up during the course of conversation.

~ _How are we going to tell the kids?~_ Erik asked on the verge of panic that night as Nina eyed him suspiciously across the dinner table, clearly apprising his emotional state. David slammed both palms on his high chair tray to catch her attention then gave her a cheerfully gummy smile once he had it.

Charles glanced around the table at the motley family they’d assembled. Jean looked like the cat that got the canary; Wanda was flicking her gaze between Charles and Erik with a look of speculation in her eyes.

Peter and Ororo were mysteriously absent at the same time, a more and more frequent occurrence as time went on. And Scott was hunched over his plate muttering hair raising stories of mischief to an enraptured audience of Kurt and Piotr. Raven looked concerned about that, but Hank distracted her by brushing a kiss over her knuckles at the opportune moment.

The school year would begin again soon and dozens more children would come into their care, some to join the X-men, most to simply learn to control their powers and live among their own kind in safety.

Charles smiled at his lover and sent him the impression of a kiss to the temple ~ _The same way we do everything, darling. Together~_

He truly wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the story but I am planning an epilogue! Please let me know what you'd like clarified or expanded upon and I'll happily include it! Thanks for coming along for the ride!! XOXO!! I love you all!!


	16. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue!!

Epilogue

“So it’s like Wanda and Peter’s mom?” Nina asked her father with a skeptical frown.

Erik tried not to beak under her interrogation. She could have given Striker a run for his money. He ran  a hand through his hair and huffed a sigh. “Yes, before I moved to Poland and met your mother I met Suzanna, Lorna’s mother.”

Nina sank back into her seat with a small frown; Erik held his breath waiting for her response. Anything had to be better than Peter’s comment of, “Dude that chick is seriously hot! Good on you!” Erik had reluctantly accepted his fist pound.

Wanda had simply pursed her lips and given him the same look his mother would have under the circumstances. The eyes made it uncanny. He wasn't ashamed to say she'd made him squirm under her scrutiny. And now again. He wondered if he should expect this from Lorna as well.

“Papa?” Nina's soft voice brought him back into the moment.

“Yes, darling?”

“Bunny’s mom didn’t have that many babies,” she informed him censoriously, looking more like her mother every day. He could only imagine what Magda would have had to say about all this. He could have used her advice at the moment.

“Well-“ he began awkwardly.

“Bunnies have _litters_ Papa,” she informed him earnestly causing a hot blush to flood his cheeks. He suddenly realized how Charles must feel about his awkward conversations with Wanda.

He cleared his throat and began again. “Ahh, yes they do, darling but some families have a lot of children as well.”

“That’s only one mama and one papa. You’re one papa with too many mama’s,” she stated primly with a touch of judgment, “Mr. Charles only has me and David.”

Erik grit his teeth and prepared himself for what promised to be a memorable lecture.

~~

“So! Does he have a second eyelid?” Mystique demanded of Hank as soon as she stepped into the lab.

He chuckled at her ongoing conspiracy theory that Erik was some sort of mutant/shark hybrid, evidence to the contrary.

“No such luck, dear. But let’s just say you’re lucky you and Erik never went further than a kiss.”

Mystique blushed at the memory of that long ago intimacy, she and Hank had no secrets between them but it was still awkward to discuss her past with her current lover. Then she processed what he’d said.

“Wait why?”

~~

“So you’re saying this _isn’t_ Erik’s fault?” Charles asked dryly, reading a stunned Hank’s projected thoughts while shifting a squirming David from one arm to another.

The father/son pair was headed for a hot bath as they were absolutely covered in what appeared to be mud. “We were digging in the garden, things got a bit out of hand,” Charles said defensively as Hank and Mystique gave them a shocked appraisal.

 _~Still~_ Hank thought, taking in their mud caked appearance.

“Did you leave any for the plants?” Mystique asked with an amused grin, stepping back from the pair with her hands raised as her nephew reached for her, desperate to escape the dreaded bubble bath.

Charles gave them a severe frown, at least as much as he could as a clump of mulch fell off his shoulder and scattered onto the tiled floor.

“Umm, when you get a chance I think you’d like to take a look at Erik’s results.” Hank said after an awkward pause before escaping the room as David made a valiant effort to dive into his arms.

“No such luck young man,” Charles said fondly taking his wriggling son for a good scrubbing.

~~

Erik was elated to get the news, “so it _is_ a mutation?”

Charles sighed and rubbed his temples, “Yes, your primary form of birth control-when you use it- has always been condoms, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, your semen has qualities similar to a petroleum compound.”

Erik gave him a blank stare.

“Any oil, including petroleum weakens latex, Erik.” Charles said baldly.

“Oh, I probably shouldn’t have been using it as lube then anyway.”

Charles blinked at him“…How do you not have fifty children?”

He gave a nonchalant shrug, “I haven’t been with that many people.”

“Thank goodness for some level of self control on your part.”

Erik shrugged again, attempting to slide a hand under Charles’ shirt as though they weren’t in the middle of a conversation. “If that’s what you want to call it,” he conceded as Charles slapped his hands away playfully.

“See now what’s this? Where’s that self control when I’m trying to talk to you?”

“No where! I don’t have to worry about knocking you up! Besides, I’m getting older; things have to be slowing down anyway, right?”

“Evidence to the contrary,” Charles grumbled as he allowed Erik to tug him down into a passionate bout of lovemaking that silenced all further complaints.

~~

**One Year Later**

Nina held David by one tiny hand and led him down the hall to Lorna’s room. She’d missed the other girl over the three months she was gone and was happy to have her back. It was nice having a sister near her own age, Lorna seemed to feel the same way.

The door swung open just as she lifted her hand to knock.

“Hello Lorna,” She said softly as they entered, David slipped free and stumbled towards his other sister happily.

“Hi Nina, Hi David!” Lorna grinned, stooping to lift him into her arms, “He got so big!”

“I know!” Nina agreed happily watching them together.

“I missed you while you were gone,” she said shyly. Mr. Charles said it was normal for her to have a hard time saying goodbye to people but that it would get better with time. She’d been despondent when Lorna left, but that had faded with time.

“I missed you too! It was _so boring_ back at my parent’s house, there’s _nothing_ to do there!” Lorna complained good naturedly.

“Well there’s a lot to do here!” Nina said eagerly.

“I know! I can’t wait for school to start again, I missed all my friends! Meanwhile let’s find Illyana and go swimming!” she cheered.

“Okay, let me go get changed!” Nina turned to go.

“Wait! I’ll come with you!” Lorna scrambled through her things one handed as David clung to her tightly, happily burrowing into her crazy hair. After a moment she pulled out her bathing suit and hurried to Nina.

Lorna grinned at her younger siblings; she’d never liked being an only child anyway.

***

Charles felt amazing. He was younger and stronger and Hank was sure his absorbed mutations from his bout with En Sabah Nur had finally stabilized.

It was almost time for another school year to start and Wanda had agreed to come to the school to live and teach full time. She’d settled in over the summer and seemed to fit right in with their eclectic mix of resident teachers.

She‘d often regaled them with her skill on the piano, now that she could control her mutation she knew they were impressed with her actual playing ability rather than her powers enrapturing them.

“Mr. Charles?” Lorna called to him. He turned to her with a small smile, she’d come back a week early to spend time with her father and siblings before the year started again.

After a somewhat bumpy start-she had Erik’s temperament in spades- she had settled in to the school happily. She and Nina had bonded over the fact that Lorna already had a step father who loved her as his own.

 “She has her own Mr. Charles!” Nina had grinned, pleased when Lorna had simply wanted to call Erik by his first name.

After that, they had bonded quickly in the way of young girls, mostly by spoiling David. They loved reading to him, changing his clothes, and- like now-letting him toddle back and forth between them for kisses, the bunny dutifully clanking along behind him.

Charles did a double take. The bunny was wearing armor eerily reminiscent of the girls’ father.

He stifled a grin, “Did you make that Lorna?”

“Yes! I worked on it all summer but bunny didn’t want to wear it!” She frowned in confusion, like she couldn’t imagine anyone not wanting to wear full body armor. Like father like daughter he supposed.

Charles gave the poor creature a sympathetic look, “Well it’s very well done, be sure to show Mr. Erik,  he loves armor too. I think he’ll be very impressed.”

She beamed up at him happily as David stumbled into her leg, catching her attention once more.

He glanced up to see Nina watching them silently,  he felt a twinge in his chest, worried that she’d once more feel jealous of her new older sister- he thought they’d covered that last year, but he was careful to mind her feelings at all times.

 _~Everything alright darling?~_ he asked tentatively. She gave him a bright smile then darted to Lorna and grabbed her by the hand, tugging her out of the room in a flash. They had joined with Illyana to become a terrible trio, something none of them had foreseen but few could argue that it worked for them.

David stumbled and fell onto his bottom, looking up at Charles in shared surprise, “You don’t understand what’s going on with your sisters by any chance do you?” David huffed and pushed himself back onto his feet to determinedly chase the poor metal clad bunny around the study.

“I thought not,” Charles watched them play, fondness filling his heart, he made a mental note to keep an eye on the girls as well. Who knew what havoc those two could wreak if they set their minds to it.

~~

Raven smiled to herself as she watched Kurt play basketball with some of the other kids. He looked normal and happy. He’d begun to open up to her and even seemed to consider her something of a friend and mentor. A few of his peers even knew she was his mother though she hadn’t said anything. The thought that he’d told them himself made her happier than she’d thought possible.

“Thinking of having another?” Erik appeared at her side, she’d had Hank check that too and the man was apparently not a phantom.

“No,” she snorted, “You have enough kids for all of us, who knew the magnetism was more than elemental?” she reveled in his blush.

“Yeah, well. Hopefully none of my kids inherited _that_.”

She grimaced at the thought of hundreds of Peter’s running around. Judging from the look on his face Erik was thinking the same thing. “Only time will tell, but we can hope for the best,” she agreed with a frown.

The glanced around for the young man and his no longer theoretical girlfriend Ororo. They were nowhere to be seen. They rarely were these days outside of practice.

“Ready to be a grandfather?” she asked dubiously as Erik swallowed convulsively.

“I need to **go find Charles**.” The said at the same time, she shook her head as she watched him hurry away before turning her attention back to Kurt. She knew he was deeply religious but perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to have Hank spell out a few things to him about the birds and the bees. Better safe than sorry around here.

~~

Charles sighed, “So apparently Lorna stole her mother’s crimping iron and the girls decided to give David a glam makeover,” he sighed impatiently as he scrubbed at the glitter eye shadow ringing his sons baby blues.

Erik was clearly baffled, “Why didn’t they just give each other makeovers?”

Charles arched a look his way, “who said they didn’t?”

Erik paled and hurried from the room to find his daughters and the younger Rasputin. Charles turned back to David with a tired sigh. “You could’ve stopped them but you love the attention don’t you?”

David chortled and attempted to wiggle away playfully.

“I should foist you off on Jean,” he grumbled good naturedly. In all honesty he could never thank her enough for catching the anomaly in David’s mind while it was still too small to cause a fractured personality.

The two of them working together had managed to seal the crack in his consciousness, though his power promised to be off the charts; he stood a fighting chance of making it through his full manifestation with his sanity intact.

Charles smiled as his baby grabbed at his glittery toenails in wonder, he couldn’t complain. He had a happy home full of safety and warmth. He had a healthy baby and more kids than he knew what to do with.

 _~I’m happy if you are~_ Erik sent him with a light kiss and a tickle for David if his pleased hum was anything to go by.

~ _Then you’re happy~_ Charles blushed lightly, sending a kiss of his own. This perfect moment deserved to be treasured. At least for the few moments before he filled the tub with water and David attempted another great escape.

~ _You’re on your own there, unless you want to swap?~_ Erik said sounding highly amused as he sent a mental image of the three prepubescent girls decked out in a mixture of what appeared to be Wanda, Jean, and Ororo’s  appropriated clothing and quite possibly all of the makeup and hairspray in the northern hemisphere.

~ _Oh no! I’m fine right here with my boy, good luck with that though~_ he sent back with a laugh as he switched on the flow of water and David sent up a wail of protest.

Two years ago he'd have never dreamed this possible, a family of his own with the love of his life. He chuckled to himself, _who knew I'd be proof that dreams can come true?_

~ _My darling you **are** a dream come true~_ Erik brushed across his mind, pressing their bond tightly for a moment before he turned his full attention back to lecturing the girls.

Charles smiled to himself, he rather liked the sound of that.

~~

“Papa?” Nina asked hesitantly.

“Yes dearest?” Erik asked softly, surprised to find her awake after he’d finished tending to David for one of his rare midnight needs. She usually didn't wake when either he or Charles came to tend him since David called for them non verbally in the night. Erik was eager to get back to the warmth of his bed and his lover, but he always had time for his kids, especially when they seemed to be struggling with something, like Nina right now.

“...Lorna said her name means Laurel Tree because it was her grandmother’s favorite.”

“I didn’t know that, but it is a very pretty name, isn’t it?” he asked softly, sitting on the edge of her bed and taking her small hand in his.

“What does David mean?” she asked shyly. And he could see where she was headed with this.

“It means Beloved in Hebrew,” he said with a tender smile.

“He _is_ beloved,” she smiled back toothily.

“Yes, he is isn’t he?”

She was silent for a long moment, “Papa?”

“Yes little one?”

“You said...mama named me.”

“She did, she knew you’d be a little girl and she picked out a name straight away,” he said, smiling softly at the fond memory.

“What does Nina mean?”

Erik leaned in to press a soft kiss to her temple, “that’s simple beautiful, it means Dreamer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done and Done! I hope that answered all of your questions! I left it open in a few places because I like to imagine them having future adventures though I may never write them in this 'verse! Though I will say I totally ship Scarlett Witch and Vision so take from that what you will!  
> If you have any unresolved questions, comments, or concerns please let me know and I will answer them to the best of my ability! Comments are love my dear ones! Thank you so much for reading along with me!

**Author's Note:**

> This movie was amazing! I loved it! I wouldn't change a thing! So of course I'm going to change everything, such is the curse of fandom! Please let me know what you think and if you notice any plot holes or typos or just want to say hi! XOXO~


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